72 THE DESERT AND THE ROSE 



Mexican as well as any white men can understand 

 the soundless depths of alien and colored races, that 

 this would be the case. As for the common accusa- 

 tion that Mexicans never keep their promises, for 

 a number of years I was in a position to state that 

 Mexicans kept their word as often as Americans 

 did ; unfortunately since being brought into contact 

 with the youthful "educated" peon I have mis- 

 givings on that score. In regard to paying their 

 debts, our resident in Mexico has more to sav: 



"I have trusted hundreds of Mexicans in small 

 accounts. . . . Some have not paid ; some could not 

 pay and continue to eat. In hundreds of cases the 

 debtors would appear sooner or later and take from 

 their bosom the petty slip of account, where they 

 had guarded it with religious care for months until 

 in their narrow lives the small sum would be saved 

 for payment." 



At this point it may well be quoted : He that is 

 without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. 



Furthermore I have been assured by those in 

 charee of hospitals, and also by medical men, that 

 the Mexican, rich or poor, pays his bills far more 

 promptly and willingly than does the American; 

 and here again the numerous exceptions do but 

 prove the rule. 



The unspeakable conditions prevailing in Mexico 

 — the cruelties, the outrageous oppression, vouched 

 for by competent witnesses, the long bondage of 

 peonage — could result but in one way: Revolution. 

 It is one of the tragedies of modern times that re- 

 volt, though absolutely unavoidable, has done noth- 



