Mexico - Today And Tomorrow

TBCB Set up aLnd electrotjrjjcdL JPublLdxed Jaouary PREFACE We have, in the United States, a very confused idea of what has been happening in Mexico during the past seven or eight years. Beyond knowing that there have been revolutions and counter-revolutions, with a mass of disorder, and that we have, two or three times, been on the verge of war with our next door neighbor, we know little of what it is all about. In the following pages I have endeavored to give a general idea of the social, industrial, political and economic conditions which have prevailed in Mexico since the fall of the Diaz r6-gime in 1911, and to outline briefly some of the prob lems which confront the country. I have not attempted, in this work, anything like a complete history of Mexico, but I have felt that, for a full understanding of present-day conditions, it is essen tial to examine early Mexican history and the history of Spanish rule and subsequent events insofar as these periods have affected national life. In dealing with events antedating what may be termed modern Mexico I have made no attempt at original research, and, so far as concerns anything prior to 1900, the work here presented is a repetition or reflection of the findings or opinions of Fiske, Prescott, Bancroft, Luis Perez Verdia and other authorities. The story of subsequent events is based largely on personal experience or observation, and on opinions formed through contact with all classes of Mexican society. I have endeavored, in the hope of aiding in a better understanding of the whole situation, PKEFACE to present the Mexican viewpoint, as well as that of the outsider, on questions of domestic affairs and foreign relations. I wish toexpress my thanks to Senores Luis Cabrera, Ignacio Bonillas, Carlos Basave, Eduardo del Kaso, Kafael Nieto, V. M. Gutierrez, J. M. Cardenas and other Mexican f riends for facilities given me for obtain ing data to Mr. George F. Weeks of Washington for chronological data and to Mr. C. W. Van Law of Bos ton for valuable suggestions. EDWABJD-D. TROWBEIBGEI. Detroit, December 9, 1918. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I ANCIENT MEXICO AND THE AZTECS .... 1 II AZTEC CIVILIZATION . ........ 10 III THE MONTEZUMAS ......... 22. IV THE SPANISH CONQUEST ....... 55T V SPANISH MEXICO ......... 39 VI INDEPENDENCE .......... 50L VII MADAME CALDERON DE LA BAROA . .... 61, VIH AMERICAN WAR FRENCH OCCUPATION ... 80 . IX PORIURIO DIAZ .......... 91 v X TUB CIENTIFICOS ......... 97 XI SOCIAL CONDITIONS ......... 105 XII HYGIENIC CONDITIONS ........ 116 XIII AGRARIAN AND OTIJER PROBLEMS ..... 119 XIV MADERO ............. 130 XV HUERTA .......... . . . 140 XVI CAURANZA VILLA ZAPATA ..... 151 XVlI DIFFICULT CONDITIONS ....... . 167 XVHI CARRANZA AND His TROUBLES ....... 179 XIX TUB NEW CONSTITUTION ....... 302 SfX CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT . . . . . 222 XXI FINANCIAL NEEDS . . . ..... 233 XXH MEXICO AND THE WORLD WAR . . 24 XXIII MEXICO AND FOREIGN CAPITAL ..... 261 XXIV AGRARIAN AND OTHER PROBLEMS ..... 273 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW CHAPTER I ANCIENT MEXICO AND THE AZTECS MEXICO is a land of vivid, startling contrasts. The great Mexican Plateau is a region bathed in perpetual, brilliant sunshine the Mexican tropical forests are vast, somber jungles into which the sunshine barely fil ters. It is a land of mystery, and a land of common place dirt and existence. Areas of fabulously rich soil contrast with arid desertregions. In Mexican history there are, on the one hand, romance, adventure, chiv alry, sacrifice, lofty ideals on the other, oppression, cruelty, sordid ambition, pestilence. Great wealth confronts the direst poverty. The lights are always strong, the shadows always dark. Much lias been written of Mexican history, of the early architecture, of the Spanish conquest, of wars and revolutions, of industrial growth and possibilities...