MESSING AROUND IN MEXICO 



richest land in the world, and although I can 

 feast my eyes on it from here, I can't get close 

 enough to work it. Over beyond those moun- 

 tains I have a big stock ranch that I haven't 

 seen for years. Fifteen thousand head of my 

 cattle were run off or were slaughtered for 

 their hides, and their carcasses left to rot. It 

 is much the same elsewhere, and there are 

 many others like me. We need your money 

 and your help to bring Mexico back where she 

 was." 



This man's plight was due to local condi- 

 tions to those marauding redskins; but 

 farther south, outside the Yaqui belt, affairs 

 were in little better stead. Banditry in this 

 state, loose government in that; a Bolshevist 

 land policy resulting in idleness, chaos, graft; 

 a general scarcity of capital, and, above all, 

 a paralyzing sense of uncertainty as to what 

 will happen next that was the impression a 

 casual visitor gained of the west coast, and it 

 was the part of Mexico least ravaged by strife, 

 most blessed with peace and security. 



I do not pretend to speak with authority on 

 the internal affairs of Mexico. It is a large 

 subject, and too many men have pretended to 

 understand it. But there are questions so 



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