MEXICO 



3766 



MEXICO 



COMPARATIVE AREAS 



At left, Mexico is shown as large enough to cover that section of the United States which appears in 

 black. At right, the British Isles are shown set into Mexico, the two being drawn to the same scale. 



It is somewhat difficult to give the charac- 

 teristics which distinguish Mexicans, so poorly 

 have the different Indian tribes been assimi- 

 lated; but for the most part it may be said 

 that, whether Indian or half-breed, they are 

 pleasure-loving, fond of ease, unreliable and 

 totally incapable of understanding the princi- 

 ples of wise and sane living. The wages they 

 earn are all too small, but whatever they can 

 save above the bare necessities of life they 

 almost invariably spend foolishly. Particularly 

 strong is their love for intoxicating liquors, and 

 every festive day serves as an excuse for ex- 

 cessive drinking. 



Living Conditions. The foreigners, of whom 

 there were about 100,000 in the country before 

 the revolutions which began in 1911, have in- 

 troduced so far as possible their own modes 

 of life, and the results are notable in the large 

 cities. Here, to some extent, European and 

 American methods have been introduced, and 

 it is frequently possible for the traveler to find 

 a fairly good hotel with electric lights and only 

 a moderate amount of dirt, instead of the inde- 

 scribable lodging houses of the past. The 

 "native whites," if so they may be called, are 

 Spaniards; and many of them live in a style 

 which has much of display if very little of 

 solid comfort. 



But the mass of the people, the Indians and 

 half-breeds, live in the most squalid poverty. 

 Their little one-story houses of adobe, or sun- 

 dried brick, lack all means of comfort and of 

 sanitation, and the death rate, especially from 

 filth diseases, is very high. Having resisted all 

 progress for centuries, they live to-day on the 

 same food which satisfied their ancestors hun- 

 dreds of years ago, and for the most part they 

 cook it in the same way. There are tortillas, 



or thin cakes of corn, and jrijoles, or black 

 beans, cooked with the pungent red peppers of 

 which they are so fond; these are the staple 

 articles of food the year round. Even such 

 variation of diet as the poorest family can hope 

 for m the United States or Canada is unknown 

 to these Mexicans. Indeed, it is scarcely fair 

 to compare the present Indians of Mexico with 



TYPICAL ADOBE HOUSE 

 (See the article ADOBE..) 



those that Cortez found there, for the latter 

 were in a more advanced state of civilization. 



The official language of Mexico is Spanish, 

 but the Indian tribes have clung steadfastly to 

 their own languages, which are numerous. 



Education. The government of the republic 

 has not neglected the question of education, 

 but the task before it is an appalling one. 

 Every state has free primary schools, and each 

 has compulsory education laws, but in the dis- 

 ordered condition of affairs which has prevailed 

 almost without cessation since the founding of 

 the republic these have not been enforced, and 

 illiteracy is still widespread. Among most of 

 the Indian tribes no progress has been made, 

 for it has never been possible to convince them 

 that there could be the slightest value in edu- 

 cation; two tribes, however, the Mixtecas and 

 Zapotecas, have been more progressive, and 

 some of the foremost men of the nation have 

 come from them. 



