A MEXICAN LAND OF CANAAN 



311 



all families of the merchant and ranch- 

 ing classes send their children to schools 

 in the United States. 



These youngsters, returning to Mexico, 

 are proud of their English (and their 

 Yankee slang). They wear American- 

 made clothes, dance all the popular 

 "steps," and display an understanding of 

 American ideals which can only make of 

 them more friendly and helpful commer- 

 cial neighbors in the years to come. 



Even now the average home in north- 

 west Mexico is largely furnished with 

 American wares — the Yankee sewing- 

 machine, the piano, graphophone. kitchen 

 range, brass bed, and baby carriage are 

 everywhere. And from Uncle Sam's fac- 

 tories our Mexican neighbors get most of 

 their ready-made clothing, their shoes, 

 hats, vehicles, farming implements, 

 canned foods, and sporting goods. 



SPANISH TAUGHT IN SCHOOLS A HOPEFUL 

 SIGN 



"The truth is," said a Mexican of my 

 acquaintance, "we understand you Amer- 

 icans better than you understand us, be- 

 cause so many of us speak English and 

 have lived or visited in the United States. 

 Take my own case : I was educated in 

 California. When I returned to Mexico 

 as a young business man, I obtained the 

 agency for certain American farm imple- 

 ments, and in a few years I was worth a 

 million pesos. 



"Plenty of American salesmen came to 

 my part of the coast, competing with me, 

 but I sold more plows and wagons than 

 all of them put together, because I knew 

 the language and mental processes of 

 both races. Hire an interpreter and you 

 hunt trouble. Xo man trusts another 

 when he can't understand him. I've no- 

 ticed it often. 



"A hopeful sign of better relations be- 

 tween Mexico and the States, to me, is 

 the fact that so many of your public 

 schools are now teaching Spanish. Keep 

 it up. It will help us to become better 

 business friends." 



A SHIP, A CARGO, AND A MARKET 



It is said that in 1498, when Yasco da 

 Gama sailed around the Cape of Good 

 Hope to India and returned to Portugal 

 with a cargo of spice and pepper, he 



made 6,000 per cent on the investment. 

 There is more competition in the com- 

 mission business now and profits are 

 more modest than in Mr. da Gama's day, 

 but the factors are the same — a ship, a 

 cargo, and a market. And this coast is 

 peculiarly our field. Our Panama Ca- 

 nal put it on one of the world's greatest 

 highways ; and our freighters, cutting 

 the wake of the romantic galleons of old, 

 now call at Guaymas, Mazatlan, Acapulco, 

 and other West Coast ports. Already the 

 trains that crawl down from the border 

 are loaded with American machinery, dry 

 goods, groceries, and everything the 

 Mexicans need. It is our market now, 

 linked with us by rail and sail, and we 

 must keep it. 



WHERE THE COW-MAN IS KING 



The ratio of meat-bearing animals to 

 human beings is probably higher in Mex- 

 ico than in any other country, because so 

 much of the land is fit only for grazing. 

 Every year we Americans eat thousands 

 of imported Mexican cattle, and in years 

 to come we shall necessarily buy more 

 and more beef from below the Rio 

 Grande. Cow-men from our Western 

 States long ago ventured into Mexico, 

 and on its vast, unfenced ranges some 

 Americans have built up enormous herds. 



On one great American-owned ranch 

 about 15,000 calves are branded every 

 spring. In Sonora a certain Yankee cat- 

 tle company's holdings are divided into 

 nearly 200 pastures, and when the over- 

 seers motor about they carry with them 

 a map of the ranch, showing the dirt e rent 

 trails, fences, and pastures. To make a 

 complete inspection of the property a 

 week's time is required. In many places 

 water for the stock is obtained from 

 wells equipped with wind or gasoline 

 pumps. Little feeding is done, as the 

 cattle can graze the year round. 



Many of the same forage grasses that 

 cover the great Arizona ranges are also 

 found in Sonora and Sinaloa. The beans 

 of the mesquite tree are likewise very 

 fattening, and it is no uncommon sight to 

 see a Mexican heifer stand on her hind 

 legs and reach for the higher twigs oi 

 this succulent bush. 



In some of the mountains many so- 

 called "wild cattle" roam at large. 1111- 



