Mexico To-Day and To-Morrow, by E. D. Trowbridge

Class Tj^lM Rnnk.Tgfc e Digitized by tine Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from The Library of Congress http://www.archive.org/details/mexicotodaytomor02trow MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW THE MACMILLAN COMPANY NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO • DALLAS ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Limited LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA MELBOURNE THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. TORONTO MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW BY E. D. TROWBRIDGE THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1919 All rights reserved » f ^3 Copyright, 1919 By the MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1919. PEEFACE 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 re- gime in 1911, and to outline briefly some of the problems 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, PEEFACE to present tlie Mexican viewpoint, as well as tliat of the outsider, on questions of domestic affairs and foreign relations. I wish to express my thanks to Senores Luis Cahrera, Ignacio Bonillas, Carlos Basave, Eduardo del Easo, Eafael E'ieto, V. M. Gutierrez, J. M. Cardenas and other Mexican friends 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. Edwakd D. Teowbeibge, 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 31 V Spanish Mexico 39 VI Independence 50 VII Madame Calderon De La Barca 61 Vin American War — French Occupation ... 80 IX PoRFiRio Diaz 91 X The Cientificos 97 XI Social Conditions 105 XII Hygienic Conditions 115 XIII Agrarian and Other Problems 119 XIV Madero 130 XV HUERTA 140 XVI Carranza — Villa — Zapata 151 XVII Difficult Conditions 167 XVIII Carranza and His Troubles 179 XIX The New Constitution 202 XX Constitutional Government 222 XXI Financial Needs 233 XXII Mexico and the World War 247 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 desert regions. 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 has been written of Mexican history, of the early architecture, of the Spanish conquest, of wars and revolutions, of industrial growth and possibilities. The purpose of these works has been to make scientific examination of the life of early American peoples, to give purely chronological relation of the course of events in the country, or to treat the question from the viewpoint of world developments in commerce and in- dustry. Little has been written from the viewpoint of the social life of the Mexican people. It is intended in the following pages, to attempt to give some idea of the conditions of the life of the people, of the factors which 1 2 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEKOW led up to the turbulent years through which Mexico has passed, and of the problems which confront the country. It is necessary, however, in order to reach an understanding of present conditions, to review early history, and that of the Spanish rule in Mexico, in so far as these have influenced the development of the social conditions of the people. Who the original inhabitants of Mexico were, and where they came from, are questions veiled in impene- trable mystery. We are apt to think of the Aztecs as the early people of Mexico. They, however, were rela- tively late comers. In 1870 there was found at Te- quizquiac, in a geological formation of the Nezoic period (the period of fauna gigantica), a skull of a cow, carved in stone, and human bones have been found in old geological formation, indicating that the country was inhabited at a very remote period. The first his- toric period in Mexico was that in which the great stone monuments and temples were erected by the Itzaes, a race whose civilization spread over Central America and thence along the West Coast of South America. The monuments, constructed of huge blocks of stone, were covered with rich carvings having many of the characteristics of the Assyrian and early Egyptian monuments. The carvings are historical records, with figures and groups of figures used much as hieroglyphics were used by the Egyptians, and while some, by anal- ogy or by traditions picked up by early Spanish priests, have been deciphered, the key to this lost ideographic language has never been found. In general, the early monuments may be grouped into three divisions: Those of the Itzaes, in Yucatan and Central America; those of the Mixtecos and Zapotecos, branches of the Maya race, in Mitla, (in the State of Oaxaca), at Xochicalco, (in the State of Morelos) and at various AJSTCIENT MEXICO AND THE AZTECS 3 points in the States of Puebla and Guerrero ; and those of the ToltecSj including the great pyramids erected at Teotihuacan, pyramids at Cholula and other points, and the ruins of great temples and buildings at Tollan (Tula), all points within a hundred miles of Mexico City. Some of the carvings in Yucatan seem to indicate that the Itzaes came from the East, which, if true, would give them JSTorth African or Asiatic origin. These people were star worshipers, and had a theocratic form of government. They built, as a capital, the city of Palenque, in Yucatan, whose ruins constitute the most elaborate found in the new world. Palenque probably antedates the Christian era by one thousand to two thousand years. The Itzaes were succeeded, perhaps overthrown, by the Mayas, whose origin is also lost in obscurity. The Mayas were of the Nahoa family. All legendary and monumental records indicate that this race came from the E'orth, and probably settled in Yucatan in the early centuries of the Christian era. Definite Mexican history begins with the Toltecs. Luis Perez Yerdia, whose work, '^ Historia de Mexico," qualifies him to speak with authority, says that the Toltecs were settled in California, north of the Gila Eiver, at a very early date, and that their earliest legends and traditions indi- cated that they were of Asiatic origin. Perhaps they came from the far JSTorth, after following the chain of islands along the Bering Sea. In any event, they had a capital called Chalchicatzincan, probably in California. After some civil strife, seven chiefs, with a large following, started South at a date computed to be 544 a. d. They moved from time to time, finally establishing the town of Tollanzinco in 645, later, in 661, establishing their capital at Tollan (Tula), fifty miles from the present Mexican capital. Here they built a great city, 4 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW grew in numbers and power, and finally dominated the whole of the Mexican Yallej region. Their government, which had been a tribal one headed by two chiefs, and Rye sub-chiefs, was changed into an absolute mon- archy. In any attempts to study the very early history of Mexico one of the difficulties of determining anything as to the age of monuments is due to the tropical and semi-tropical plant life. Buildings, once abandoned, soon disappear under the profusion of foliage, and only chance excavation brings to light what may have been an important city centuries ago. At E'ecaxa, in the State of Puebla, some American engineers engaged on a large construction job, undertook to open up a large mound, evidently some sort of a ruin. On digging down six feet they found the walls of a Toltec temple, which they uncovered. The building was of massive hewn stone, paved with heavy flagstones. One of the latter was out of place, and, on digging into the hole where it had been the investigators found a small earthen jar containing two sixpence pieces of George III ! The building had evidently been used, probably as a residence, as late as the latter part of the eighteenth century, but was so deeply buried in loam that the tops of its walls were six feet below the sur- face.

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