After passing the Mexican border at El Paso the journey lies for the first hundred miles or so through a dreary sandy waste till one reaches Torreon, which, owing to its irrigation canals, is the centre of a very fine farming district. The town possesses large smelters, a white-lead works, and a glycerine and dynamite factory. And this is the town where in Madero’s late revolution 303 poor unhappy Chinamen were slaughtered in cold blood! The next place of importance is Zacatecas, one of the largest mining centres in the Mexican republic, with mines, now being worked, that were worked by the Spaniards some three hundred years ago. Its cathedral, perched up on the top of the mountain, was all lighted up for some great church fiesta; a very pretty sight, visible for miles after we had passed the town. From Irapuata a branch line runs to Guadalajara. The country here changes entirely as one enters the State of Jalisco, known as the granary of Mexico. Guadalajara itself is a fine old Mexican city, in the centre of an immense fertile plain, at an elevation of 5200 feet. It is a town that has always been against the Liberals, being the great centre of the Clerical Party, and consequently the Federal Government under Diaz never did much to help it. Juarez was nearly assassinated here, and General Diaz was hissed by the people when he went up there some twelve years ago. It has a beautiful cathedral, and churches are to be found in almost every block of the centre of the town. It is a very sleepy place, distinguished for this even in a land where the people are accustomed to take life easily; things have, however, changed much in the last eight years.
There are certain ways hard to get accustomed to in this country. One is the habit of lying, not maliciously, but that lying to keep you in a good humour which is practised by all classes. For instance, you go into an office and ask for a certain person who happens to be out. You ask when he will be back, and the reply is invariably, “Please sit down, he will be back in a moment.” In fact, they lead you to suppose that they are astonished that he has not already returned. And all the time they know that he has gone home, and left word that he would not return! I have been to a foundry to get delivery of work promised me by the owner on his “word of a gentleman,” by the following day (which he knew, and I knew, could not possibly be done), and I have finally got the work delivered three weeks later, after going up and cursing him twice a week. I have asked for work long overdue, been met at the door and told that I must have missed it on the way there as it had just left for the factory, while all the time it was still unfinished. Then there is the siesta habit indulged in by all Mexicans, though foreigners do not follow the custom or find it at all necessary to health. From 1 P.M. till 3 P.M. all business is stopped, not a store is open or an office. Another trouble is stealing; it seems to come natural to a Mexican of the lower classes to steal. Then, if he can, the Mexican does everything in the opposite way to any one else. I have heard it said that the only thing they do the same as other people is digging a well, because they do not know how to start at the bottom; but this is an exaggeration. When a Mexican gives his address he puts the street first and the number afterwards; their exclamation marks are used upside down, and the query mark is like this ¿. If they are going to pull down an old house and build a new one, they build the new one inside the old one, and only pull down as it becomes necessary; they saw with the teeth of the saw away from them, and other things too numerous to mention.
Guadalajara claims to have the cheapest electrical power on the continent (six cents the kilowatt hour), and in consequence it is an important manufacturing town, having cotton mills, flour mills, two or three foundries, soap factory, a smelter, sugar refineries, three breweries, whisky distillery, and other industries. The schools also are good, and it has an engineering and medical college and two industrial schools, one for boys and one for girls. The city was founded in 1541 by Nuño de Guzman. It has a climate far surpassing that of Los Angeles, and, if it were only known, it would become a great centre of tourist travel. Now that the line is built to Manzanillo on the Pacific coast, it is easy to reach Guadalajara from any of the Pacific coast ports in the United States or Canada. Close to Guadalajara are the falls of Juanacatlan, called the Niagara of Mexico (575 feet long and 400 feet high). Within twenty miles is Lake Chapala, about fifty miles long and five to ten broad, which affords good duck, goose, and snipe shooting, though practically no fishing, as the only fish are German carp and catfish, neither of which are game fish. There are also a few deer, bear, and mountain lion to be had, if one has time and patience and is a good climber. The quail have been practically exterminated, as have also the rabbits.
The government of the country has been a benevolent despotism; and as this was the method of the Federal Government while in the hands of General Diaz, so also it was that of each governor in his particular state. It has not as yet had time to change much under Madero, but I think it will do so gradually, as the people get accustomed to their civic rights and demand them. They have a congress, it is true, both in the States and the Federal one, but these are more for show than anything else. The Mexicans have a story they are fond of telling in regard to this. A woman once went to see the governor to get an appointment for her son. The governor said, “I will put him in as a clerk.” “But,” said the woman, “he cannot read or write.” The governor then said he would make him a captain of police. Said the woman, “He cannot ride, and the truth is he is a little feeble-minded.” “Then,” asked the governor, “what do you want me to make him, and what is he fitted for?” The woman replied, “I thought he would make a good congressman!”
This form of government seems just suited to the people, and I have heard Mexicans of standing, even since the revolution, say that they were not fitted to govern themselves, but needed a strong man at the head, and this is the main cry against Madero, the present president. Every Thursday afternoon the governor holds a public audience, at which any one can attend, and if he has a grievance he can state it; the governor will look into it and, if possible, set it right, sometimes even overruling police magistrates’ or judges’ orders. It is an experience to attend one of these audiences and see people of every grade who come for justice or to have some grievance attended to. It is the Nousherwan ideal of Asia, but as little capable of being realised there as here; better, nevertheless, than India’s Vakil ka Raj (lawyers’ rule), according to the Bengali writer, Mr. Mitra. Of course the whole system hinges on having an honest governor like Don Miguel Ahumada of Guadalajara, as in the hands of a dishonest man it is a great lever for blackmail.
Such men as our governor, Colonel Don Miguel Ahumada, are hard to find in this country—in fact any country might be proud to claim him. He was a man of about six feet four inches tall, with chest and shoulders in proportion, wore a black imperial and large curled-up moustache, his forehead was high and broad, and, though his face was a trifle hard, there were lines of humour round his eyes and mouth. He was a man of the old school, like his great leader Diaz. He was honest, absolutely just (rich and poor looked alike to him), had a keen sense of humour, very proud, but a thorough democrat. I have seen him walking the streets in the early morning, unattended, and stopping to chat and ask questions of the street-sweepers, the small street-corner vendors, beggars, and whomsoever he met who he thought might have information of use to him. Thus he kept in touch with the needs of the poor, and heard of abuses and petty thievery amongst the city’s employees. I could give hundreds of instances of his humanity and justice, but will content myself with one. On one occasion a widow came to him with the following tale: Her husband when dying had left all the property to her, but had asked a trusted friend of his to arrange all the details of succession and so forth. This friend, through one excuse or another, kept affairs strung out for a year or more, and then demanded sundry thousands of dollars for his work. Don Miguel (as every one called him) sent for the fellow and told him to bring all the deeds, inventories, &c., with him. When he arrived, Don Miguel took all the papers, &c., and, after putting a fair valuation on the work done, paid the man as many hundreds as he had demanded thousands, and turned everything else over to the widow.
CHAPTER XXVI
The Mexican workman—His remembrance of a grudge—The Commissaria—Private feuds—American versus English.
As a workman the Mexican is surprisingly good, considering the poor food they are able to buy with the small wages they get. They have not much initiative, but can be taught to do almost anything and do it well. A few years ago American mechanics could command almost any salary in Mexico, but now Mexicans can do for themselves, and Americans would starve on the salary. When I arrived I had not one single man who had ever seen asphalt laid before, or knew anything about a plant. I had plans with me, and we went to work and put up the plant. Then I had to teach my yard foreman (an American) the first principles of the asphalt business. I got up at three each morning and started up the plant, then went to the street with the first load and showed the men how to lay it, and did the rolling myself. I soon found, though, that I could not keep this up, so we wired to the States for a roller-man and a raker. And with these two men, who understood their branch of the work, I managed to get through the first season and complete a contract for $84,000. The yard foreman picked up his end in an astonishing short time, and after the first job that end gave me very little trouble.
We were about two-thirds through the work when I noticed that my two Americans were acting sulkily and hanging back, till finally it came one day to a climax and they both went on strike. The cause of the strike was so trivial that I thought there must be something more behind, but did not find it out till some months afterwards. A short while after I came here the company had got a superintendent for their Mexico City branch from New York, and this roller-man and raker were men who had worked for him there. It seems that he had arranged with them to make trouble for me so that I should not finish the work, and then he could get a man of his own in my place. However, in the middle of the trouble he was caught padding the company’s pay-roll, and just escaped arrest by getting out of the country. This broke up the strike, and I was able to finish up and get rid of my men, who had done one good thing for me—and that was to break in a crew of Mexicans, with whom I have done the work ever since.