Mex i co
Ct
f906d

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
AZARIAH ELDRIDGE
MEMORIAL FUND

The Men of Mexico
and
The Land They Love

AUTOGRAPH EDITION
of which this volume is

No.

.Copyright, 1906
By JOHN W. DeKAY

THE MEN
OF MEXICO and
THE LAND
THEY LOVE

ij Mn WDeKar

EE building of a Republic
is never an easy task, but
the man of the hour
in Mexico has toiled well
and with strong hands.
As Pericles represents the golden
age of Athens, so Diaz stands for
the new era in Mexico. To his
genius and devotion and courage is
largely due the good fortune of the
Mexican Republic, the stability of
its institutions and the high place
it holds among the nations of the
earth. Mexico is a rich, fair, interesting
land. Buried in the forests and the
jungles, and covered over with care
less tropic vines, are cities which
were great in the long-forgotten past.
The quaint buildings and massive
walls, with their strange inscriptions
and enduring charm and beauty, tell
the story of a civilization such as
graced the banks of the Nile and One

THE MEN OF MEXICO
carved the columns for the sands!
of Alexandria. Out of the mists of
the old days loom the scattered
remnants of the earlier races which
make the civilization of ancient
Mexico akin to that of Asia.
It was to this land of strange
people with a fantastic mythology,
but as beautiful in some respects as
the Grecian, that Cortez came to
establish new customs, European
laws and the Christian religion. He
had to contend with their human
sacrifices in the temples, and com
bat their belief in many gods. The
tide and the friendly winds landed
the brave Spaniard on a verdant
shore. He named the spot Vera
Cruz — the True Cross — and began
his march to the heart of a great
country which was destined to three
hundred years of Spanish rule. The
native people were to be enslaved
while they built palaces and cathe-
Two

THE MEN OF MEXICO
drals. Their conquerors preached a
new religion of kindness and
brotherly love; they practised
selfishness, hatred and the Inquisi
tion. The ancient people of the valley
of Mexico were not unlike the Goths,
or the Moors of Spain in that the
Aztecs were a ruling caste. Through
the tenor of arms the Aztecs had
more or less enslaved many of the
tribes of Mexico and forced them to
construct waterways, collect gold
from the rivers, cultivate corn, beans,
tobacco and other plants, and to
erect the marvelous pyramids and
the countless temples which amaze
the explorer of Southern Mexico
and Guatemala. The great walls,
the long roads, the aqueducts and
mighty ruins of Mitla and Palenque,
and the vast mines throughout the
country are products of the ancient
Mexican laborer, a fact which has
Three

THE MEN OF MEXICO
an important bearing upon the na
tive laborer of to-day.
The Indians in Mexico were and
are vastly different from those of
North America. The Mexicans were
enslaved and forced to work. The
population, so far as it retains its
old Indian blood, is descended from.,
the native ruling.; castes and the
native subject or slave tribes. There
fore it shows both leaders and pa
tient laborers. Had it been like the
Indian people of the United States,
_> '
it could never have survived under
the ruthless rule of the Spaniard
with its three centuries of unceas
ing cruelty and oppression.
But the descendants of the Monte-
zumas and the caste of native rulers
were destined to regain the govern
ment of their country and put an
end to Spanish dominion. Thus
under the leadership of men like
Hidalgo and Morelos the Mexican
Four

THE MEN OF MEXICO
Declaration of Independence was
issued the 15th of September, 1813.
During the sixty years following its
independence, Mexico had more than
fifty rulers. Some were presidents,
others dictators, and two were Em
perors. Throughout the country civil
conflict raged. The tenure of office
was brief. Its Presidents and Dic
tators, one after the other, were de
posed and in some instances ex
iled, and its Emperors Ytiurbide and
Maximilian, were shot in the public
squares. Progress and nation-build
ing were impossible because the
government was not entrenched in
the hearts of the people and life
and property were insecure.
The man who was to be the first
great leader in the movement for
honest constitutional government was
Benito Juarez, bom in Oaxaca in
1806. His parents were honest,
rugged, brave Indians. They were Five

THE MEN OF MEXICO
mountaineers, and Zapotecas who
had always maintained a degree of
independence. The early life of Tiiarez was in
many respects like that of Lincoln
and the immortality of both among
men is largely due to the utter de
votion which each in his own land
gave to the cause of national
sovereignty and to the integrity of
constitutional government. While
Lincoln was contending that the
right of the State must be second
to the will of "the Nation, Juarez
was fighting to establish a Federal
Government that would respect the
National Constitution as the supreme
law of the land, and make sub
servient to it all interests and in
stitutions under the Mexican flag.
Like Lincoln, Juarez was a plain,
frank, resolute, humble man. He
was courageous and a soldier un
daunted by defeat. He was a
Six

THE MEN OF MEXICO
lawyer and at intervals practised
his profession. One of his pupils
was Porfirio Diaz, now the foremost
figure in constructive statesmanship
in the world.
He, too, was born in Oaxaca of
humble parentage. His boyhood
days were full of hardships and
privations. At an early age he be
came lawyer in order that he might
earn money for his widowed mother
and family. But the spirit of ad
venture and daring was in his
veins. He began to feel a longing
to identify himself with the army
and help to make Mexican history,
and soon the Bar lost his service
and the army gained the man who
was to be its most illustrious mem
ber and who was to create for him
self a place in Mexican history
which had not hitherto been at
tained and which probably never
will be equaled by any other man. Seven

THE MEN OF MEXICO
He is, and always has been, a
brave, undaunted man, and in war
and peace his associates have loved
him for his integrity, his devotion
and his inspiring courage. When a
great Mexican general went over
.to Maximilian in 1864 and urged
Diaz to join the French, his answer/
was shot through and through with
the valor which has ever made him
victor over his surroundings. He
said in part: "The French, since
the resistance of Puebla, have done
nothing but make a triumphal
march through the interior; and I
promise myself that in Oaxaca if
fate reserves such a triumph for them,
it will cost them dear and that it
will be achieved only by crushing
us with superior numbers. But it
will not be long before we obtain
the victory, and the whole Republic
will the next day become one vast
barrier to foreign aggression. The
Eieht

THE MEN OF MEXICO
struggle may, it is true, be prolonged
like that which at the beginning of
the century made us free and in
dependent, but the result is certain.
***** Neither by myself nor by
the distinguished personnel of the
army, nor by the towns of this ex
tensive part of the Republic, can
the possibility of an understanding
with the foreign invasion be thought
of, resolved as we are to fight with
out truce, to conquer or die in the
challenge, to bequeath to the genera
tion that succeeds us the same free
and sovereign Republic which we
inherited from our fathers."
A great declaration for a man
thirty-four years old, the leader of
a small and hungry army, to make
against the Empire and the French!
But he won and his courage was
everywhere crowned by victory.
At the close of his great achieve
ment at Puebla he addressed his
Nine

THE MEN OF MEXICO
army thus: "The General-in-chief of
the Eastern Army to his victorious
troops in Puebla: Companions in
arms: I wish to be the first in pay
ing tribute to your heroism. The
entire nation and posterity will after
wards perpetuate your glory. You
have inscribed another memorable
date in the history of the City
where Zaragoza immortalized his
name on the 5th of May. The 2nd
of April, 1867, will henceforth be
registered in the calendar of our
national glories.
"I centered great hopes in you; I
have seen you come forth without.
arms at your country's call, to arm
yourselves in Miahuatlan and in La
Carbonera, in Jalapa and in Oaxaca,
with weapons wrested from the
enemy. You have fought naked and
hungry, leaving behind you a track
of glory; yet knowing all this, your
deeds in Puebla have surpassed my
Ten

JOSE YVES LIMANTOUR
Minister of Finance of the Mexican Re
public, and the man whose long adminis
tration of the finances of his Government
has been without parallel in modern times.

J,

Senator Sebastian Camacho, Mexico's most
distinguished business man. President of
the National Bank of Mexico and President
ot the Federal Senate.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
hopes. A city not without reason
considered invincible, and which the
first soldiers in the world could not
take by assault, yielded to one dash
of your courage. The entire garri
son and the immense war material
gathered by the enemy are the
trophy of your victory.
"Soldiers! You deserve well of
your country. The struggle which
rent her cannot be further prolonged.
You have given proof of your
irresistible walor. Who will dare
measure arms with the victors of
Puebla? Independence and Republi
can institutions will waver no longer.
A country that has sons like you
will be safe from all conquest and
oppression, "Intrepid in battle and moderate
in victory, you have won the ad
miration of the city for your bravery
and its gratitude for your discipline.
"Who is the general that will
Eleven

THE MEN OF MEXICO

not be proud to lead you? While,
you are with me your friend will
deem himself invincible. PORFIRIO DIAZ."
A proclamation worthy a Napoleon
or a Caesar! And his state papers
are all moderate, dignified and
thorough. Diaz was elected President in
1877 and served until 1880, when he
was succeeded by General Gonzalez
whose administration was unable to
carry forward the important work
inaugurated by his great predecessor,
and in 1884 Diaz was again elected
President of Mexico by an almost
unanimous vote. In September of
that year he was inaugurated for
the second term and has ever
served his country with utter devo
tion. Through all these years he
has been the nation's choice — its
greatest man— the idol of its people.
Seven times he has been elected its
Twelve

THE MEN OF MEXICO
Chief Executive, and his present
term will expire in 1910.
He began his work when the
Government was without credit at
home or standing abroad. Its treas
ury was empty, and the country,
long impoverished by war, was
burdened by an excessive foreign
debt. Diaz knew that . his land was
rich in almost every natural re
source, that the mountains were
stored with metals, and the broad
stretches of prairie would yield
abundant wealth if the people were
permitted to pursue their work in
safety and in peace. Railroads
must be built and operated by
foreigners, the mines must be en
larged, smelters erected, modern
machinery installed, factories con
structed and the hum of industry
started throughout the land. The
stored wealth of Mexico and the
capital and energy of foreigners Thirteen

THE MEN OF MEXICO
must be combined to give the
country its place among the nations.
The task of Diaz was to establish
the credit of his nation abroad and
maintain peace at home. He met
every obligation incurred and soon
began to have the confidence of
the civilized world. In every right
way he encouraged foreign enter
prise and foreign capital and has
always protected to the utmost the
rights of investors in his country.
Inspired in all his career by a
rugged and fearless integrity, he
has been able to surround himself
with honest, competent, reliable
men who have been devoted to their
country and whose administration
of affairs in all parts of the Re
public has been almost without
exception for the good of the
people. It was a big program which the
citizen-soldier undertook at the
Fourteen

JULIO M. LIMANTOUR
Builder and owner of railroads. Director
of the National Bank of Mexico. Direc
tor of the National Railroads of Mexico,
and important in the life of the Capital.

HOME OF JULIO M. LIMANTOUR
Near the City of Mexico. Covered over
with tropic red-flowered vines.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
age of forty-six, but to an extent
not equaled in republic-building in
a hundred years Diaz has succeeded
in his task. On the day of his
election he began to plan for bands
of steel from Texas through the
heart of Mexico to the ancient city
of the Montezumas. The rails were
laid, communication with the United
States was established, and the
music of the spindle and the foundry
began. Trains began running from
the center of America to the quaint
city which whitens broad stretches
in the beautiful valley of Mexico,
where the clouds drift lazily from
the tropics to the snow-mantled
peaks of the Sierras. And the land
that Mexico's statesmen loved so
well fronted the dawn of a new
day. One by one great railways
stretched across the prairies and
wound their way round the moun
tain sides of this historic and fer-
Fifteen

THE MEN OF MEXICO
tile country and everywhere. ! spun
the million wheels of industr^
Factories employing scores of thou
sands of peoplei and railroads em
ploying other thousands, havf
created in Mexico a great middle
class of property owners, and the
condition of the common people is
being rapidly improved. The pur
chasing power which was once con
fined to the few now extends to the
many, and year by year Mexico is
taking a higher place among the
enlightened and progressive nations
of the earth. Its bonds are above
par. The credit of its separate States
and of its municipalities is high,
and its every obligation is met with
a promptness equal to any nation
in the world. It owns a control
ling interest in most of its great
systems of railways; owns and
operates the telegraph, has developed
its harbors, and has a smaller per
Sixteen

FRANCISCO ALFARO
Congressman, lawyer and orator, and his
son Gonzalo, in a corner of his private
office. On his left the desk of the Inquisi
tion. In front of it the chair of the Em
peror Maximilian.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
capita indebtedness than the United
States — all of which shows the great
wealth of the country and indicates
the wise and far-seeing policy of
its rulers. No steps are being re
traced. The march is constant and
onward. Each year adds to the
credit and greatness of the country
and the widespread admiration for
its President and his advisers.
Civil strife is ended. In all parts
of Mexico the millions now gather
the fifeits of industry and prolonged
peace. The wise policy which has
created modern Mexico will con
tinue to be the guide for its rulers.
When the hero of the hour rests
from his labors the men who sur
round him and who have been
trained in his policy will carry for
ward his work.
Vice-President Corral, Finance-
Minister Limantour, and the emi
nent Cabinet officers and governors Seventeen

THE MEN OF MEXICO
in various parts of the Republic,
are a guarantee that the progress
of the country will be undisturbed.
The country is free from any spirit
of foreign invasion or conquest. It
has a small army and practically^ no
navy. It has none of the equip
ments of modern aggression that
are calculated to excite suspicion
abroad or the spirit of adventure
and discontent at home. It is spend
ing its money for education;' harbors,
railroads, telegraphs, public high
ways and in bettering the condition
of its poor, instead of wasting ' it
on battleships and implements of
war. And it is to the men of peace
that monuments will some day be
erected. The men of Mexico are equal to
any task in war, but the Diaz
regime has made them love peace.
They realize that only through pro
longed peace can they retain their
Eighteen

'?<*J.

BERNARDO REYES
Noted General in the Mexican Army.
Former Minister of War. Now Governor
of the State of Nuevo Leon.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
place among the nations and con
tinue the development of their vast
resources. A quarter of a century of Diaz
has changed all calculations . re
garding Mexico. Like Caesar and
Alexander the Great and Napoleon,
Diaz is a constructive and adminis
trative genius. And time has been
given to Diaz to enforce his policy
and to establish an enduring repu
tation in statesmanship as well as
in war, while to Alexander and to
Caesar this opportunity was denied.
In his military career Diaz did
for Mexico what Bolivar did for
Central America, but Bolivar did not
live to see his people freed from civil
strife. His work practically ended
with the battle field, while with
Diaz the success of his military
career was ended by the beginning
of his greater work as a statesman,
peace-maker and nation-builder. Nineteen

THE MEN OF MEXICO
So far as they were adapted to
the needs of the country, Mexico
has been guided by the laws of
France and the United States, but
has avoided many of the mistakes
of both. The. railroads in Mexico
do not dominate legislation, but are
controlled by the Government.
There are no rebates or rate dis
criminations. Everywhere in Govern
ment affairs is seen a master hand,
and this is particularly true in the
Department of Finance, whose head
is Jose Yves Limantour. During
his long administration the re
sources of the treasury have been
conserved, the increased revenues
wisely spent, and the ability of the
trained financier made effective for
the nation's good. Under his initia
tive Mexico has been brought out
of the ranks of the silver countries
and its credit firmly established
upon a gold basis, which has proved
Twenty

THE MEN OF MEXICO
to be of great value to the mercan
tile and wage-earning classes. The
Mexican dollar which formerly
varied in value from thirty-five to
fifty cents, has been stabilized at
fifty cents gold.
While all industrial develop
ment is still in its infancy in Mexico,
the country year by year sells more
than it buys. The balance of trade in
its favor will increase constantly with
the development of its resources. In
area Mexico is nineteen times the
size of the State of Ohio; eleven
times as large as the combined
areas of the New England States,
or as large as the combined terri
tory of France, Germany, Italy, the
British Isles, and Japan with For
mosa. And in all this vast area
there reside only about 14,000,000
people. It is an old country
in point of time, but new in its
state of development. Its people
Twenty-one

¦

THE MEN OF MEXICO
are a blend of the old Spanish and
ancient native stocks, with a further
admixture, during more than three
hundred years, of emigrants from
France, Belgium, Germany, Holland/
Italy and the British Islands. The
Mexicans of to-day are ambitious.
They love comforts and pleasures.
Theirs is a land of old culture and
civilization, and about it everywhere
is an unending charm ajni}' spirit* of
restfulness. They take life leisurely
and from a viewpoint unknown to
the restless Americans and Europeans
who are developing the resources of
the Mexican country and giving
employment to its people.
The grazing and agricultural in
terests of the country are mostly in
the hands of the natives and are
confined largely to ranches and
farms of great area. The farmer
owning a small tract of land and
tilling the soil himself, is hardly a
Twenty-two

'% ' Jj

£f ¦
IV ^fl
H - 1
Mr ';-^%i;.V:.^B-"":-;-P"" ¦§.'.
1 ^^^^JV kj-^-M ^H
II
Kl
*y^__________Y '
SERAPION
FERNANDEZ
Member of Congress and noted business
man. For many years the largest dealer
in meat products in Mexico.
HOME OF SERAPION FERNANDEZ
In the City of Mexico. A typical residence
of the new class.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
factor in the development of Mexico.
Most of the northern half of the
Republic is semi-arid, and, unless
irrigated, is suitable only for graz
ing. In the southern part of the
Republic the country is rolling and
fertile, and great areas of it com
pare favorably with Illinois, Iowa
and Nebraska.
The property-owning and educated
class in Mexico, consisting of sev
eral millions, have a high standard
of living and are fond of the ac
companiments of modern civilization.
They appreciate and love the beau
tiful, are hospitable, generous and
chivalric. The women of Mexico are very
little in public life. They are mod
est and reserved and educated
chiefly in church institutions or by
private teachers. They have about
them the seclusion of the cloister
and the languid beauty of the roses
Twenty-three

THE MEN OF MEXICO
by the wall. They are at once vi-r
vacious, . interesting and austere.
They are devoted wives and gentle'
mothers, to whom the life of the
home is all in all. To them, music
and flowers are as essential as sun
light, and they are at one with their
environment. They are devoted to
the church and lend an indefinable
charm to the gloomy grandeur of
its early morning hours. In the
evening, as the sun tints the sky
and paints the banks of clouds with
red and gold, one sees again the
women of the city as they drive
round a given course until the
evening shadows gather and the
mountain tops stand out against a
blue and starlit sky.
In the villages, where carriages
are few and the streets rough, the
men and women stroll around a
central plaza in which a military
band plays the soft southern music
Twenty-four

JUSTINO FERNANDEZ
Minister of Justice of Mexico; one of the
signers of the Constitution.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
that lulls and rests and holds you
in its spell. Here is the ceaseless
flow of the fountain, the glad song
of the birds, the gentle murmur of
the south wind in the overhanging
boughs, the perfume of the abun
dant flowers, and to these are added
the reserve and the unaffected mod
esty which are the charm of the
daughters of Mexico and Which
complete the beauty of the picture.
The Mexico of to-day is the mod
ern realization of the Fortunate
Islands which the people about the
Mediterranean imagined first in
Cyrene, then in the Canary Islands,
and later in the fabled Atlantis.
It is the Hy-Brazil of the early
Irish poets, the country of peace
and wealth in the far West which
lured to sea St. Brandon and Prince
Caradoc of Wales. It is a land
where the sun shines and fragrant
wild flowers bloom throughout the
Twenty-five

THE MEN OF MEXICO
year. It has an incomparable blue
sky. It is a country of sweet, som
ber music, soft voices and quiet
people, and everywhere reigns the
spirit of contentment and leisure. ,
The men who constitute its Na
tional Congress and the Legislative
Assemblies in the various States, ,
are almost wholly of the class which
is educated, independent and de
voted to the progress, the peace
and the greatness of their country.
If a measure is right, it will win;
if wrong, its defeat is certain. It
is true that human nature is very
much the same throughout the
world, but it is also true that the
class of men in power in Mexico
is a superior and devoted class.
The example of honest and close
application to hard work which has
marked the career of the illustrious
President of Mexico is followed gen
erally by public men in all the de-
Twenty-six

(i) The Cathedral, Mexico City.
(2) The Burros and their burden.

MORELIA'S PARK
The red flowered vine in Morelia's Park.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
partments of the Government. Thus
< jt is that out of the storm and the
strife and the revolution of the long
years there has been developed in
Mexico a generation of men devoted
to peace, to honest republican gov
ernment and to a progressive civi
lization which more . and more
commands the interest and the ad
miration of the world.
Ramon Corral, the Vice-President
of Mexico, upon whom will rest
greater responsibilities as the days
pass, is in all ways worthy of the
trust. He is next to Diaz in point
of position and favor with the peo
ple. He was for years a journalist
on the west coast of Mexico. He
succeeded as a farmer and soldier,
then was Governor of an important
State, and later Governor of the
Federal District. At this writing
his years are less than fifty; his
hair is gray; his eyes are keen,
Twenty-seven

THE MEN OF MEXICO
frank, piercing; his face strong, rug
ged, resolute. He is a fearless, ten
der, kindly man, thoroughly quali
fied for his work and devoted to
his people. He is an able business
man, with promptness of decision,
keen insight and constructive abil
ity. He is modest, gentle, poetic;
a well-rounded, patient man, schooled
by experience and adversity for the
big place of to-day and the bigger
one of to-morrow.
As Mexico has produced men
great in war and constructive states
manship, so it has developed men
eminent in diplomacy; Its Minister
Of Foreign Affairs, Ignacio Mariscal,
is one of the world's great diplo
mats and has achieved his dis
tinguished place by meaning just
what he says and by saying it in
a way which leaves no doubt as to
his position. He has undertaken
many difficult tasks and has always
Twenty-eight

THE MEN OF MEXICO
succeeded. He believes in frankness
and by it won and held the ad
miration of Gladstone, Bismarck, Hay
and the entire diplomatic world.
He lived for some years in America
and married a member of a dis
tinguished Baltimore family. His
children were educated in the United
States. They are talented and are
conspicuous in the social life of the
Mexican' capital.
Mariscal was one of the signers
of the Constitution of his country,
and is a scholar and a poet. His
translation of Poe's "Raven" into
Spanish is a classic in every land
where people speak the tongue of
Spain. At the head of the Department
of Justice is the great lawyer, Jus-
tino Fernandez, one of the signers
of the Constitution and the life
long friend and adviser of the Presi
dent. He is a tireless worker and
Twenty-nine

THE MEN OF MEXICO
has done much for the jurisprudence
of his country.
The scholar , and poet, Justo
Sierra, as head of the Department
of Public Instruction and Liberal
Arts, has done great things for the
educational system of Mexico. He
is a believer in a national policy of
education and in uniformit|rj, of
method throughout the country He
is deeply interested in better pri
mary schools and in greater atten
tion to the education of the masses.
He is a reserved, quiet man, re
sourceful and highly educated.
Notwithstanding the long era of
unbroken peace, Mexico has a well-
disciplined army which is in reality/
an effective system of National po
lice. The present Minister of War
and Marine, General Gonzales Cosio,
was one of the veterans in the
cause of reform, and served his
country with valor and distinction
Thirty

GUILLERMO LANDA y ESCANDON
Governor of the Federal District of
Mexico.

BENITO JUAREZ
Soldier and statesman. The first great
President of Mexico under the new
regime, and whose son, Congressman
Benito Juarez, is now prominent in public
life.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
in the campaign against Maximilian.
In the days of the nation's peace
he has occupied many positions of
trust and importance. His adminis
tration as Minister of Fomento dem
onstrated that the veteran soldier
was also a business man of ability
arid perception. He is still very
active in the service of his country
and devotes long hours to his work.
While the patrician in Mexico as
a rule is not given much to modern
business, Senator Sebastian Camacho
is a notable exception. He is the
greatest banker in his country and
its foremost railroad builder. He is
a hard-working member and Presi
dent of the Federal Senate, and has
rendered distinguished service to
the nation. When the Government
wanted to make the gold standard
practical and effective, it took his
counsel as the country's greatest
banker and business man. Notwith- Thirty-ono

THE MEN OF MEXICO
standing his years and his honors,
he is still much devoted to his work.
No function or assembly of na
tional importance is complete with
out him. He has never been out
side the borders of Mexico, but is
known to men who have to do
with international banking in almost
every country in the world. He is
a close student of American insti
tutions, American history and mod
ern business methods. He has lived
to see some of the enterprises
founded by him grow until they
are the most important in his coun
try. When the history of Mexico
is written, he will stand out as the
greatest man in private life during
the long and remarkable era of
Diaz. The questions which have agir
tated Mexico, coupled with the prob
lems that have arisen ^A a result-
of the large foreign interests in the
Thirty-two

THE MEN OF. MEXICO
country, have developed a very high
standing for the Mexican Bar, the
most distinguished member of which
undoubtedly is Luis Mendez, one
of the authors of the Civil Code.
He was counselor for Maximilian
under the Empire and has attained.
international eminence. He is of an
old and noted Mexican family
which distinguished itself in the
army, in civil life, in politics, and
the law. In the realm of Mexican
jurisprudence he has no equal.
In the conflict and the stress of
arms, fighting foreign invasion and
straggling against local dictatorship,
Mexico was destined to produce
oratory of a high order, but the
generation of the era of peace has
also distinguished itself in the
forum, through its great orators,
the foremost of whom is Congress
man Francisco Alfaro, who is ag
gressive, poetic, brilliant and the
Thirty-three

THE MEN OF MEXICO
devoted friend of Americans. He is
a linguist and at ease in English,
French and Italian. He has written
much on international law and is edi
tor and publisher of the "Forum."
His father was a noted general in
the Mexican Army, and during our
Civil War was much in the South
as the friend of General Robert E.
Lee. That fine and rare courtesy
which Characterizes the best class
in Mexico is in Mr. Alfaro, com
bined with an activity, vigor and.
force which are typical of the rest
less American. He understands the
American, tolerates his bluntness,
overlooks his lack of courtesy, helps
him when he is right and opposes
him when he is wrong, and gives
his time and his strength and his
great ability to forwarding the con
structive work of Diaz and his
Cabinet to whom he is utterly de
voted. He is an athlete, an expert
Thirty-four

ROBERTO NUNEZ
Noted lawyer and political economist,
long sub-secretary of the Department of
Finance and the able and valued assistant
of Minister Limantour.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
horseman, a great student, and com
plex man — poet, musician, economist
and scholar.
In the program of pacifying
Mexico and establishing its credit
abroad, President Diaz and his
Cabinet would have failed without
the intelligent and honest co-opera
tion of the Governors of the va
rious States. .In all parts of the
Republic the Executives of the
States have striven to promote the
wise policy of the Nation's Chief,
and their labors have contributed
largely to the natural growth. They
have given the States honest, capa
ble and progressive rule.
In Michoacan, one of Mexico's
richest States, the Governor, Aristeo
Mercado, has labored long and well.
Born in a humble and isolated vil
lage, he has had a long and useful
career in war and in peace. In him
the foreigner of the . right type finds
Thirty-five

THE MEN OF MEXICO
a constant and faithful friend. He
despatches with the promptness of
a man of affairs the projects and
interests of all classes, and with
the care and foresight of one to
whom the welfare of his people is
all in all.
Morelia, the capital of his State,
has played a famous part in the
history of the country. It is one
of the most picturesque of all the
Mexican cities. It has the atmos
phere of the land of the Moors
and an unbroken silence which is
restful and possesses you with its
charm. The music of its great
cathedral bell, wafted on the night
wind of the tropics, echoes in the
distance as a thwarted wave alohgi,v
a shell-strewn shore. The magic
stillness of its night-time is broken
only by the shrill call of the sentinel^
which is answered by another and
another, round and round the citjtf|
Thirty-six '*

THE MEN OF MEXICO
until it sounds back the message
that all are on duty and that all
is well. The stillness grows and
holds you till the moonlight is
no more and all the world seems
wrapped in sleep that will not end.
Over the mountains and beyond
the great lakes to the westward is
Uruapan, one of the few primitive
towns of ancient Mexico. It nestles
at the feet of the rugged, pine-clad
mountains which fringe the west
coast of the country. Its streets are
narrow and follow paths that lose
"you in among the rocks and trees.
A mule car with a picturesque
driver meets the train and slowly
winds its way through tropic ver
dure to the plaza where it stops
until you weary with the waiting —
and yet the 15,000 people of the
village are content, and the street
car pays its^way! Save for a few
modern factories run by water pow-
Thirty-seven

THE MEN OF MEXICO
er, everything is much as it used
to be long years ago. Here Gov
ernor Mercado was born, and here
round the plaza, in front of the old
brown 'church, which the rain and
the sun have striped with red and
gold, he planted, forty years ago,
the trees which cast their welcome
shadows over the people on the
iron benches through the long after
noons. To Uruapan, the home of his
boyhood, the Governor goes for
rest. He is soothed by its silence,
its wondrous sky and the nameless
influence of its solitary hills, and
here it is that the humble, pic
turesque people of all ages pass
and kiss his hand in reverent salu
tation. Probably nowhere outside,
of Mexico will one see anything so
beautiful, so touching and so full
of human interest. Governor Mer
cado is beloved by his people. He
Thiity-eieht

LUIS B. VALDES
Secretary of State of Michoacan.
lawyer and economist. A silent
devoted to his work.

Able man,

FELIX DIAZ
Colonel in the Mexican army. Chief of
Police of the City of Mexico, formerly
representative of Mexico in Chile; nephew
of the President of the Republic, and son
of one of its great generals.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
has established industrial schools,
art schools, and hospitals, and has
everywhere encouraged popular edu
cation and modern improvements.
He is a calm, reserved, cultured
man, doing each day's work that
day with a singleness of purpose
worthy of the opportunity and the
man. His administration is typi
cal of the present high character of
Mexico's statesmanship in the va
rious parts of the Republic.
In the Federal District where the
population is more congested than
elsewhere and where the capital city
of the country is located, the Gov
ernor has many complex problems.
As Governor of the Federal District,
Ramon Corral set the standard high,
but his successor, the present Gov
ernor, Guillermo Landa y Escandon,
has met the expectations of the
people and proven worthy of his
station. His measures for a better
Thirty-nine

THE MEN OF MEXICO
control of the pulque shops, for a
regulation of traffic on Sundays, and
for the relief of the poor, have com*
manded wide-spread attention and
won for him a great many admirers
and appreciative friends. He is a
man of undoubted integrity, is
highly educated, and has traveled
very extensively. His close study
of public affairs in the United
States and Europe has qualified him
to deal ably with the problems of
his important office, and to dis
charge its duties well. He is a man
of strength and increasing promi*-:
nence and has a high place in the
social life of Mexico.
On the east coast, the Governor!
of Vera Cruz, Theodore A. Dehesa,
has built railroads, founded schools,
erected public buildings, established:
modern drainage systems in many
cities, and has beeri an importanl
factor in making Vera Cruz one Of.
Forty

THE MEN OF MEXICO
the most sanitary cities in Mexico
and one of the cleanest seaports in
the world. Under his regime the
Vera Cruz. & Pacific Railroad was
built, connecting the port of Vera
Cruz with the Tehuantepec railway
and forming a link in the Govern
ment's trans-continental system. He
is a noted patron of art and the
friend of every young man or
woman who has ambition and abil
ity. Many struggling youths who
enjoy the benefit of the galleries in
Rome and Paris, are indebted to
him for their chance to win fame
with the brush. Governor Dehesa
is a hard-working, unassuming, mod
est man, wholly devoted to the
State. He loves his land and its
institutions, and for him there is no
city in the world equal to his quiet,
secluded Jalapa. It lies hidden
among the rugged mountains under
the shadows of the snow-capped Forty-one

THE MEN OF MEXICO
Orizaba. It looks out across valleys
and over hillsides where the leaves
are always green. Along its streets
the banana and the coffee grow.
Over its gray walls creep the care
less, red-flowered vines. Its thorough
fares are narrow and rugged and
wind in and out among the hills.
The patient burro laden with char
coal, and the brown native with his
sandals and sombrero, move lazily
under the southern sun. Above
them drift the mists from the sea,
driven by the east wind to the
snow-mantled mountains that stand
as sentinels out against the won
drous southern sky. Above and be
yond the drifting clouds the eagle
wheels and floats and soars until
you lose him in the vastness of the
blue. About you is the music of ;
a thousand manyrliued birds, which ]
never need to migrate to a fairer
clime. Their mating place, their
Forty-two

GENERAL PORFIRIO DIAZ
President of Mexico.

CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC
In the valley of Mexico, west of the
Capital. The home of President Diaz.
Built on the rugged rocks by the Monte-
zumas and occupied by the Emperors and
the Presidents of Mexico.

THE MEN OF MEXICO
nests, their homes are there for
ever and they seem to praise the
fates which brought them to the
land where summer lingers through
the year.
The State of Vera Cruz is rich
and sends its cattle to the islands
of tiie sea. Its coffee, grown near
Cordoba, is famous in many parts
of Europe. Its dye-woods are shipped
everywhere. From the forests to
the south come mahogany and
ebony which are manufactured into
pianos and furniture of the highest
class and then go back to the peo
ple and the land which- sent them
forth as logs. By and by the cat
tle fattened on its fertile prairies
will be driven to tide-water at Vera
Cruz and shipped abroad to feed
the armies in camp and the miners
in the mountains of the old world.
Thus in every part of Mexico,
west, east, north and south of the
Forty-three

THE MEN OF MEXICO
capital city, men and money are
building, up a nation on the modern,
plan. To the development of its
treasured wealth are invited the
people from all the nations of the
earth, with the assurance of justice
and protection at the hands of a
Government that is liberal, honest
and fair.
In northern Mexico, where the
country is dry and semi-arid like
Arizona, an industrial city has been
founded on the plains. This, the
most American of all the cities of
the country, is Monterey, the capi-:
tal of the State of Nuevo Leon.
With less natural resources than
most of the cities of the south,
Monterey has established indus
tries of national importance. The
most notable are its steel foundry
and breweries. It has a progressive
daily newspaper, printed in English
and managed by an alert and en-
Forty-four

THE MEN OF MEXICO

^erprising American. The change in
Pfonterey from a hamlet of adobe
houses to a modern city of sixty-
five thousand people, has been
wrought during the administration
of General Bernardo Reyes, its pres
ent Governor. As Governor, Reyes
is as aggressive and as decisive as
he was in war. He has shown
great administrative ability and is
favorable to the establishment of
American industries; these he has
steadfastly encouraged. He is a
man of medium stature, is quick,
alert and fearless. His is a nature
of many parts. He is of strong
will and a student and soldier. He
believes in peace, but is not afraid
of the conflict. He loves good
music, .and Calderon, Dante, Hugo,
Shakespeare, Burns and other books
r— if other books there be! In the
old days of strife he was prominent
in the affairs of his country, and is
Forty-five

THE MEN OF MEXICO
prominent in its present days of
assured peace. All his time and his
talents are devoted to furthering
the things that make for greater
Mexico and the progress of Monterey.
The press of Mexico is largely
Spanish and conservative. It has
freedom but not license. The peo
ple there are more orderly than the
people of the United States, and
the laws of the country are en
forced. In the City of Mexico the
"Morning Herald" and the "Evening
Record" are published daily in Eng
lish. The former is a strong estab
lished journal. It is edited with
distinguished ability by a man who
is enough a part of the world's
activities to have a keen insight and
who is far enough removed to get
the proper perspective. The "Record"
is a progressive eight-page paper,
owned and managed by a young
man who will be heard from more
Forty-silt

A SHRINE
Showing moss and creepers on the trees.

(i) Making Tortillas.
(2) Getting the Pulque from the Maguey
Plant in the valley of Mexico.

THE MEN OFTVIEXICO
and more as time goes on. His
paper is fearless and fair.
"El Impartial" is the leading
journal of the country and is edited
by a man of noted ability. It is
conservative, but believes in the
policy which has made Mexico great
and prosperous.
"El Mundo" and "El Pais" are
important daily papers and con
ducted by men of great talent. "El
ij&is'' may be regarded as the ultra-
conservative paper of the capital.
In the City of Mexico there are
many weekly and monthly publica
tions devoted to finance, to the- in
dustries and arts of the land,
endeavoring honestly to interpret
the condition of Mexico to the
World outside.
The young men of Mexico in the
professions and the politics of the
country are following with marked
ability in the ways of its great
Forty-seven

THE MEN OF MEXICO
leaders who have won renown as
nation-builders. They are close stu
dents of the institutions and meth
ods of modern business. They
believe in thorough public schools
and are developing an educational
system in many respects superior
to ours in the United States.
A large percentage of the teach
ing force in Mexico is women.
The school system is free from poli
tics. Merit is the test for promo
tion. There is strong centralized
control and harmony of method
throughout the country. Education;
is compulsory, and the attendance
in all schools is increasing rapidly.^
After twenty years of service in
Mexico all teachers are pensioned
for life; after thirty years they are
retired for life with full pay. School
buildings are being erected in all
parts of the land and are furnished
and equipped in a modern way.
Forty-eight

THE MEN OF MEXICO
English is one of the compulsory
branches. The religion of the country is
Catholic, but the Church is not the
owner of any property. It has been
shorn of its material wealth and
entirely separated from the State.
Officials of the Church are not per
mitted to hold office under the Gov
ernment. Its monasteries are being
converted into industrial schools,
art schools and palaces for the use
of the State, under an administra
tion of fairness which has en
trenched itself in the hearts of the
millions. The question then of government
in Mexico is not a question of poli
tics as citizens of the United States
understand politics. The President,
his Ministers and Governors are
kept in power term after term by
unanimous popular approval. So
devoted have these officials been to
Forty-nine

THE MEN OF MEXICO
their country, that as long as they.
will accept the responsibilities of
the Government, the people will con
sent to no change. The nation is
established on the solid rock of
constitutional self-government. It is
in every respect a Republic. Each
of its States has its Constitution
and its independent rights. Each
State has its legislative assemblies,
its Governors, and its Members of
Congress in the Federal Senate
and House of Representatives. The
President is chosen by the people,
but owing to their temperament and
condition a less percentage exercise
their right to vote than in the
United States.
The Mexico of twenty-five years
ago is no more the Mexico of to
day than is the United States the
same now as in 1861 when civil
war raged and slavery was an in
stitution of the South.
Fifty

THE MEN OF MEXICO
The people are changing with
the times. They are better fed and
clothed than in the old days,, but
the majority are still poor. They
do not need to make provision for
the winter and have the consequent
improvidence of the tropics. They
seem to require Httle and are spared
the extremes of heat and cold which
are the terror of the poor in the
North. The beautiful plazas of the
country, bathed in the soft light of
the southern sun, give them shelter
through the noon hours and a rest
ing-place when the night wraps
its mantle round the trees. The
graveled .paths are shadowed by
the rare tracery of the wind-tossed
leaves and seem to speak beneath
the tramp of weary, homeless feet.
But the passing of each year adds
to the education of the masses and
marks rapid advancement in the
arts and crafts and the growth of
Fifty-one

THE MEN OF MEXICO
a larger middle class. Each year
more railroads are built, more in
dustries established, more mountains
of ore discovered, additional manu
facturing plants erected, more prod
ucts are exported, more money is
put in circulation and more harbors
are deepened and made ready for
the anchorage of the white-winged
fleets and the great ocean craft
which carry the products of Euro
pean factories to America, China
and Japan.
In these pages there has been an
attempt to give a faithful interpre
tation of the Mexican country; of
some of its institutions and of a
few of its great and representative
men from the standpoint of long
and personal observation. In all
parts of the Republic there are men
of note in Government and busi
ness circles and distinguished as
educators, lawyers and judges of
Flfty-twq

THE MEN OF MEXICO
whom it has been impossible to
speak in detail but whose talents,
public service and achievements
have given, and will continue to
give to them, a high place in the
history of their land.
The making of the country is
without any of the elements or
dangers of a boom and is upon a
sound and substantial basis. It is the
work of creative men whose pro
gram finds a welcome with the
people of the country. The move
ment is not unlike that which re
sulted in the development of the
vast resources of the States lying
west of the Mississippi. The oppor
tunities along many lines, such as
manufacture, mining and agricul
ture, are as great to-day in Mexico
as they were in the western half of
the United States forty years ago.
But Mexico has the decided advan
tage of a vast amount of accumu- Fifty^tnree

THE MEN OF MEXICO
lated wealth in solid towns already
built, and roads and water-courses
made generations ago.
While we have been "winning
the West" the people south of the
Rio Grande have established the
integrity of their political institu
tions, and made the country safe
and ready for the pioneer. Rail
roads to the remote parts of the
country have made Mexico a very
accessible neighbor. Year by year
far-seeing, substantial and conserva
tive business men from all parts of
Europe and America are investing
their time and money in the insti
tutions of that country where they
now earn and will continue to earn
larger returns than are possible
elsewhere. As the days pass, the vast areas
of prairie land in the center and
north of the Republic, comprising
in extent more than half of the
Fifty-four

THE MEN OF MEXICO
country, will be devoted more and
more to grazing, as modern develop
ment enables Mexican food-products
to become a factor in the commerce
with England. Being unable to ship
its live-stock to British markets,
the production has necessarily been
confined to the demands of local
markets, but this condition is now
being altered and will be changed
more and more as the years pass.
Year by year Mexico will push
forward the development of its la
tent resources and the establishment
of modern industries on a large
scale. It will send the products of
its factories to the Far East and to
the less progressive nations of Cen
tral and South America. It will
send its food-products to the great
markets of Europe. It will stock
its vast plateaus, harness its many
waterfalls, cultivate its fertile val
leys, uncover the hidden wealth of
Fifty-five

THE MEN OF MEXICO
its great mountains, and build new
cities like those which have been
raised in the valleys and on the
prairies and mountain-sides of the
United States between the Missis
sippi river and the Rockies. Then
will Mexico, long dormant under
Spanish rule, for generations torn
by civil strife, and until recent
years but Httle known by the people
of the North, have a still more
eminent place among the great na
tions of the world.
And the name and the life-work
of Diaz will endure.

DESIGNED AND KADt AT
THE MASON-HENRY PRESS
SYRACUSE, NEW YORK

YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 02949 5703