FIGHTING THE INSECTS 



very much impressed, and said, "By George, how interesting 

 this is!" In the meantime the young Mexican engineer stepped 

 out on the back platform and said to the crowd in Spanish 

 that the man with his head out o£ the window was the grandson 

 of George Washington. Whereupon the crowd broke out with 

 lusty Vit/as, all directed at Greusel, who withdrew his head and 

 said to us, "This is one of the most interesting international 

 incidents I ever encountered. I must write it up for my home 

 paper." The Cleveland lawyer then remarked, "But, Joe, we 

 didn't see the whole show. We didn't see the grandmother of 

 Hildalgo." Joe said indignantly, "Are you pulling my leg? Are 

 you kidding me?" And the young Mexican engineer said joy- 

 ously, "Certainlee, Hildalgo, he was a priest, he was a celibate, 

 he could have no descendants." During the next few weeks 

 we met a number of English-speaking people who were mainly 

 American and English mining men, and I told this story several 

 times in Greusel's presence. Finally he said to me, "Doctor, that's 

 a darned good story, and you tell it well. But if you do it again, 

 I'll write it up for my paper and make you the butt of the joke." 

 Newspaper men can do pretty well as they please with us, after 

 all. They can, to a certain extent, make reputations and unmake 

 them. 



Conditions in Mexico prior to 1904, under the regime of 

 Porfirio Diaz, were very stable, and it was a great pleasure to 

 travel in that beautiful country. I remember that once I called 

 on the governor of the state of Oaxaca and asked for informa- 

 tion about the cotton-growing regions in his state. He told me 

 that he would get the information for me in two or three days, 

 and that he advised me meantime to visit the ruins of Mitla, 

 some thirty miles from Oaxaca. He said that he would give 

 me a detachment of Rurales as an escort. I expostulated and told 

 him that conditions were so very peaceful that I would not need 



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