154 The National Geographic Magazine 



many officers who for their competency 

 and honesty seemed to all to be the right 

 men in the right places were left undis- 

 turbed. 



If we entertain an elevated opinion of 

 General Diaz we only agree with what 

 the press of every country, from Russia 

 to Spain and from Cape Horn to Wash- 

 ington, declare when they assert that 

 Mexico is one of the most prosperous 

 and best governed countries in the world. 



Our constitutional laws differ from 

 those of the United States in denying 

 the right to religious corporations of any 

 denomination to possess or administer or 

 to hold any mortgage upon real estate. 

 In consequence the property of such 

 corporation must be in cash or in shares 

 of railroad, telegraph, manufacturing, 

 mining, or some other kind of enterprise 

 which keeps their money in constant 

 circulation. The object of this legisla- 

 tion was to prevent the stagnation of 

 real estate constantly produced by those 

 corporations having two characteristics — 

 indefinite duration and possession in com- 

 mon — not any of their members being- 

 able to dispose of any part of the prop- 

 ert}', as is the case in mercantile associa- 

 tions. 



Another point worthy of mention is 

 the disposition of our fundamental laws 

 relative to marriage. Our legislators 

 considered marriage as the corner-stone 

 of the social edifice, and consequently 

 they did not leave it to the legislatures 

 of the States, but prescribed precise and 

 includible rules as to its nature and form 

 of contract. 



In short, they considered marriage a 

 civil contract constituted by the indis- 

 soluble union of a single man to a single 

 woman, and requiring for its legal va- 

 lidity that it be contracted before a civil 

 magistrate appointed for the purpose. 

 Of course, the laws do not prevent the 

 contracting parties from having recourse 

 to the ministers of their religious creed, 

 and this is the reason why in Mexico 

 all nuptial ceremonies are double — one 



of a religious and the other of a civil 

 character. 



Some lawyers say ' ' that it is not con- 

 venient to hinder or make marriage a 

 little difficult ; ' ' but others answer in 

 reply, " that it is better to oblige men 

 and women to practice the known pro- 

 verb, ' lyook before you leap,' or, as 

 we say in Spanish, ' Afites que te cases, 

 niira lo que haces ' ( Before you get mar- 

 ried, think of what you are doing)." 

 Divorce is absolutely rejected, though 

 legal separation is allowed, with the 

 formalities prescribed by said laws. 



The public administration of Mexico 

 is divided into seven departments : For- 

 eign Affairs ; the Interior ; Justice and 

 Public Education ; Improvements, In- 

 dustry, Commerce and Colonization ; 

 Communications and Public Works ; 

 Finance and Public Credit ; and War 

 and Navy. 



The Department of Foreign Affairs 

 maintains amicable relations with all the 

 countries of both hemispheres. Today 

 Mexico has not a single cause of dis- 

 agreement with any power or people in 

 the world. 



One of the principal objects of the 

 Department of the Interior is to culti- 

 vate cordial relations between the Fed- 

 eral and State authorities. There was 

 a time when almost every State governor 

 conscientiously believed it to be his duty 

 to oppose in every way the Federal Ex- 

 ecutive, and even some of them main- 

 tained a large military force, not to keep 

 peace and give public security, but in 

 order to resist by force, if necessary, the 

 orders of the Federal Executive. Those 

 narrow-minded and anarchical ideas are 

 things of the past, and General Diaz, in 

 his last report, relates with patriotic 

 pleasure "that not a single State has 

 any difficulty or displeasure with the 

 Federal authorities or with any of its 

 neighboring States, and that all their 

 governors try to act in perfect accord 

 with the Federal Executive to give an 

 impulse to the continual progress of the 



