290 A TRIP TO MEXICO. 



has the credit of first furnishing to the world this most impor- 

 tant food staple. 



There is nothing in all the line of vegetables, fruits, grains, 

 luxuries or staples, that cannot be raised somewhere in the Mex- 

 ican States in the greatest abundance and cheapness. And I have 

 often asked myself if, in view of all these natural advantages, 

 this country would be any benefit to the United States, should 

 the opportunity ever be offered of acquiring it. I have always 

 decided that it would not be. There is not a land, however rich 

 and prolific it may be, that is worth the having, if it is encum- 

 bered with a Spanish speaking people. It is the same with Cuba 

 as with Mexico. Either one of these would prove to be the 

 source of never-ending jealousies, intolerance, and insubordina- 

 tion, until the native element was exterminated, or merged into 

 something better. And these, as we know, are long and trying 

 ordeals to go through. 



Old travelers say, if you want to travel for comfort or pleasure, 

 never go where they speak the Spanish language. There are 

 many reasons for this, and one of them is that you cannot trust 

 that " Si, Sifior " as you can the " Yes, Sir." There is always in 

 these countries a feeling of insecurity of person and of property, 

 an uneasy doubt as to just how long you will be able to hold 

 your own. Quiet and order are maintained within the city limits 

 of Mexico, but it is at the cost of a large and military police. 

 Every night, from sundown to sunrise, at every street crossing, 

 there is a policeman fully armed with a musket and cutlass. But 

 whenever our party made excursions into the country we took 

 with us nothing more valuable than a few silver mounted pistols. 

 And we should probably have given these up to any strangers we 

 had met in a lonely part of the way. 



It was my misfortune to visit Mexico during the prevalence of 

 one of its periodic revolutions.* This word sounds terrible, and 

 has a pretty serious meaning to us. But .there it is only the 

 usual process of a change of administration. It is the party of 

 the outs trying to get in, and doing it in the only way it can be 

 done in Mexico, that is by fighting. Popular suffrage is there 



* In the Spring of 1876. 



