Mexico of the Mexicans/Chapter IV
CHAPTER IV
THE STATE AND STATESMANSHIP
By the constitution of the 5th of February, 1857, Mexico was created a federation of sovereign States, the institutions of which are described as representative and democratic. This Federal Republic then consisted of nineteen States, which for purposes of administration have since been multiplied to twenty-seven, each with its independent local government. There are also three "territories": those of Tepic, Lower California, and Quintana Roo; and the Federal District of the city of Mexico in which the national capital stands is common ground.
The manner of electing the President is, curiously enough, reminiscent of the procedure of the ancient Mexicans, whose tlatoani, or king, was chosen by four great lords or electors. The President, who must be a Mexican born, is chosen by an electoral college, the members of which are representative of the people. He must be at least 35 years of age, and it is discreetly provided that he must not belong to any religious order.
The Cabinet is under the direct supervision of the President and Vice-President, and consists of eight Secretaries of State: those of foreign affairs, justice, public instruction, interior, "fomento" or industry and colonisation, finance, public works, and war and navy. It was enacted in 1890 that the re-election of the President might take place without limit. The salaries of these offices are exceedingly modest as compared with those of the executives of European countries, for, although the President draws some £5,000 per annum and is, therefore, in much the same position in this respect as British statesmen, the heads of departments receive only £1,500 per annum for their labours.
The Parliamentary machinery of the Mexican Republic is represented by two chambers—a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies—the diets of which are held annually from 1st April to 31st May, and 16th September to 15th December. There is, however, a permanent committee of 14 senators and 15 deputies, which sits during the recesses and which has certain emergency powers. The Senate is composed of 56 members, two from each State elected by popular vote for a term of four years, one-half of these retiring every two years; and it is wisely provided that the senators must be residents of the States they represent. The deputies are elected in the ratio of one for each 40,000 inhabitants, and serve for a term of two years. Both senators and deputies receive a salary of about £600 per annum.
The judicial power is vested in a Supreme Court of Justice, 3 circuit courts, and 32 district courts. The Supreme Court consists of 11 justices, 4 deputies, and other officials, all of whom are elected by popular vote. Its jurisdiction extends to all cases arising under the federal laws, but it has no powers in cases involving private interests, in inter-State litigation, or in cases in which the State figures. The salaries of the judges are extremely moderate, those of the Supreme Court receiving only about 550 per annum; while the district justices have to be content with about £360 per annum.
Each State has also its legislative organisation or congress presided over by a governor, who is indirectly elected by popular vote and served by deputies who sit for two years. These assemblies, and indeed the whole State machinery, is modelled upon the federal institutions, and each State had also its Supreme Court of Justice and inferior courts. The States are divided into districts having a resemblance in size and administration to English counties, and each has at its head a Jefe Politico, an administrator or prefect. The powers of the several States are limited. For example, no one State is permitted under the constitution to raise a tariff wall against another, to go to war with its neighbours, or to issue paper money or make alliances, or, in short, so to act that the general commonwealth might be jeopardised.
Up to the time of the Revolution the workings of the constitution, so far as the States serving the federal capital were concerned, were exceedingly harmonious; in fact, the manner in which they adhered to the federal government was an eloquent testimony to the virtues inherent in such a form of political administration, where the evils of rule from a distant centre were obviated and the blessings of local government fully reaped.
It would be idle, however, to pretend that in some of the more distant States disaffection had not reared its head. Especially was this the case in the Northern State of Chihuahua, where the great land-owning family of the Terrazas aroused the spirit of revolution by acts of peonage and exactions of an extreme character. There were, too, other causes which contributed to disloyalty on the part of the more distant States. In Latin-American Republics the system of "the spoils to the victors" in matters political is carried out with rigorous exactitude; and those persons of influence, who are left in the cold shades of opposition, are usually totally excluded from all participation in the life of the country. Under the régime of Diaz, this policy was perhaps more rigidly enforced than ever before in the history of Mexico. Diaz surrounded himself by a band of statesmen whose interests were identical with his own, and who formed perhaps as solid an oligarchy as Latin-America had ever known. This Cabinet was known to its opponents as the Grupo Cientifico, or "knowing ones," and there is little doubt now, that although these men toiled, in a sense, for the real good of the country, that they exercised a kind of tyranny peculiarly distasteful to the more liberal-minded section of the Mexican public. The result of this species of administration we will deal with later in the chapters devoted to the revolutionary movement.
The national revenue of Mexico is chiefly derived from a duty on imports, which amounts to nearly one-half of the total receipts. The remainder of the national income is derived from excise and stamp National
Revenue taxes, and from direct taxes levied in the Federal District and national territories. In the rural districts there is also a land tax, a house tax in the cities; and there are also burdens imposed upon bread, pulque, vehicles, and spirit-shops. There is, further, a federal contribution composed of a surcharge on all taxes levied by the several States, and the Post Office is another source of revenue.
For the fiscal year 1914-15 (the last figures available), the estimated expenditure amounted to $152,284,898; that for 1912-13 had amounted to $110,781,871, which was more than balanced by a revenue of $120,958,908. During the year under review, we find that import duties brought in over $46,000,000 and interior taxation about $38,000,000, other burdens realising about $30,000,000. The expenditure on legislature was $1,801,473; on executive, $278,860; judiciary work absorbed $691,276; and the department of the interior about $14,000,000 in round numbers. Public instruction required $705,631; justice nearly $2,000,000; fomento, $3,500,000; public works over $12,000,000; and war and marine nearly $29,000,000.
The public debt of Mexico at the present time amounts to between £40,000,000 and £50,000,000.
The Mexican regular standing army at the outset of the Revolution was organised on modern lines, but though up to date and well armed, and large enough (it might have been thought) The
Army for all likely contingencies, was yet, in view of what occurred, insufficient in numbers and striking power. In 1908 it consisted of 2,574 officers and 24,000 men, commanded by a general staff at the capital. There were 8 generals of division, no less than 54 brigadier-generals, and nearly 1,000 officers between this rank and that of major, of whom perhaps the larger portion were on half-pay. The infantry establishment consisted of 28 battalions and 4 skeleton battalions, 1 section, and the Yucatan Guard of 20 officers and 400 men. There were 14 regiments of cavalry and 4 other skeleton regiments of horse; 2 regiments of mounted artillery; 1 of excellent horse artillery (perhaps the best in America); a corps of mountain gunners, garrison artillery, and other ordnance units. A battalion of sappers and miners with engineers, transports, and hospital corps, made up the tale of Mexican military resources.
The scale of pay in the Mexican Army is extremely modest, but it must be remembered that most of the officers are men of private means belonging to the older families. In the cavalry, a first lieutenant receives about 5s. 6d. a day and a captain from 6s. to 7s., a major about 9s., a lieutenant-colonel about half a guinea, and a colonel about 15s. The infantry scale runs as follows: First lieutenant, 5s.; captain, 5s. to 6s.; major, 8s.; lieutenant-colonel, 9s. 6d.; colonel, 14s. A general of brigade receives about 25s., and a general of division about 33s. These scales apply, of course, to pay on active service.
Besides the standing army, the war strength of the Mexican forces was given in 1907 as 120,000 infantry, 20,000 cavalry, and 6,000 artillery.
In 1900 it was enacted that the army should be reorganised, and a second reserve was formed consisting of volunteer officers, round whom volunteer civilians might Reorganisation. rally in time of war. These officers belong for the most part to the commercial and professional classes, and are placed on precisely the same footing as those commanding the regular corps.
The arm with which the Mexican infantry is supplied is the Mauser rifle (pattern 1901), 7 mm. calibre. Armaments. The artillery is furnished with Krupp cannon, and a special design of gun which is the invention of Colonel Mondragon, a Mexican officer of artillery, who was at one time military attaché to the Mexican Legation at Paris.
The reserves are armed with the older Mauser rifle of 1893, and the ammunition is manufactured in Mexico. Gun-running has always been more or less a favourite pastime with the malcontents in the Northern States, and it is possible that many of the rebels were during the Revolution armed with better and more up-to-date weapons than their opponents in the regular army.
The method of obtaining men for the Mexican Army is, to say the least of it, a peculiar one. Considerable numbers enlist, but others are "taken," that is, the form of conscription in vogue might be characterised as impressment. The vast bulk of the rank and file is naturally drawn from the half-breed and Indian castes. These men are most amenable to discipline, and are possessed of all the fiery courage of their Aztec forefathers.
There are excellent military schools at Chapultepec and Vera Cruz, and at the former, the place of instruction is situated in the historic palace of the Presidents. In connection with this institution a touching story of patriotism is told. In 1844, during the invasion of Mexico by the army of the United States, the castle was invaded by American troops, who succeeded after a desperate engagement in penetrating to the fortress. The flag of Mexico, with the national emblem of the eagle bearing the serpent in its talons, floated from the topmost turret, and when the American soldiers reached this last citadel they were met by the cadets, almost boys, who gave such a good account of themselves, that the Northern soldiers were for the moment thrown back. Seeing that the Americans were being reinforced every moment, and that the flag of his country was in danger, one of the cadets seized it and, wrapping it about his body, leaped from the turret, and was dashed to pieces on the earth below.
In the war with the United States, the Americans had cause to remember the terrible Mexican Lancers, whose dashing tactics more than once threw them into confusion; and the French at Puebla, where Diaz won his reputation as a military leader, were shattered by Mexican élan on the glorious Fifth of May.
The Mexican Navy consists of 10 small vessels, including a steel training cruiser, 2 old unarmoured cruisers, 2 unarmoured gun-boats, and 5 small modern gun-boats, with a personnel of about 1,000 men. There are naval schools at Campeche and Mazatlan. Mexico has little need for a navy at present, and what she has may be described as a nucleus rather than a force.
The educational system of Mexico has been reorganised on modern lines. In the old days the schools were under ecclesiastical rule—by no means a desideratum. Education. Colleges were founded so early as 1530, and in 1553 the University of Mexico came into being. This institution, however, never achieved a position compared to that of the greater South American Universities, but, this notwithstanding, education continued to flourish in Mexico; and when at last the Spaniards were expelled from the country, increased efforts were made to introduce educational reform. Matters were, however, still under the discipline of the Church, and it was found that for this reason but little could be achieved. The subjects taught in those earlier days were, for the most part, Latin rhetoric, grammar, and theology, which curriculum was supposed to furnish the student with a liberal education. In 1833 the usefulness of the University of Mexico became doubtful, its labours were suspended, and in 1865 it passed out of existence. After the overthrow of Maximilian, its place was taken by a number of individual colleges, institutions of law, medicine, and engineering being founded in 1865, and proving much more suitable to the modern requirements of the country. Good schools, too, began to spring up in the provinces; and in 1874 there were no fewer than 8,000 of these, with an attendance of 360,000 pupils.
When visiting Mexico at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Humboldt professed himself greatly surprised at the development of education in the capital, and at the number and worth of its scientific institutions. But the Spanish-American has always been most amenable to educational and refining influences. Indeed, few races in the world exhibit such signs of enthusiasm for culture as do those of Latin-America. The movement was strongly fostered by President Diaz, who, indeed, regarded it as the basis of Mexican existence. Diaz made a thorough personal study of educational methods and requirements, and may indeed be said to have founded the present machinery of instruction in vogue within the Republic.
A National Congress of Education was convened in December, 1899, and also in the following year; and its provisions were carried into effect in 1892 through a law regulating free and compulsory education in the Federal District and national territories. Prior to this, Mexican public education had been under the supervision of a company known as the Compania Lancasteriana, so called after Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838), the English educationist whose system was matter for so much controversy at the beginning of last century, and which consisted to a great extent of instruction by monitors and mnemonics. This doubtful and antiquated method was now abandoned, and the schools taken in charge by the Department for Public Education; but no comprehensive or far-reaching scheme was arrived at until 1896, when a simple yet liberal plan was constituted. At first, the various States objected to educational interference within their boundaries; but, later, they came to see the evils accruing to a lack of uniformity. In 1904, over 9,000 public schools were opened for instruction, with an enrolment of 620,000 pupils. Nearly 3,000 of the schools were supported by the municipalities, and there were also over 2,000 private and religious establishments with 135,000 pupils. Secondary instruction was by no means neglected, for at the last date for which figures are available there were 36 secondary establishments with nearly 5,000 pupils, and 65 schools for professional instruction with 9,000 students, of which 3,800 were women. This last statement shows how thoroughly modernised the educational movement has become in the Republic. A quarter of a century ago, Mexican women would never have dreamed nor have been desirous of participating in the benefits of the higher education, but now their keenness to embrace professional careers is intense. It is, of course, extremely probable that the relative proximity and example of their Northern neighbours in the United States, where female education has made such advances, has had much to do with their enlightenment, for many Mexican women, like their brothers, are now educated in the United States, whence they return with the most modern opinions regarding instruction, erudition, and general culture.
The curriculum of the Mexican public schools is carefully graded. In the preparatory departments, Spanish grammar, arithmetic, natural science, the history of his native land, practical geometry and drawing, The
Curriculum. and singing are taught the boy, as well as gymnastics and physical drill. These last two items are replaced in the girls' curriculum by sewing and embroidery. In the higher grades, English is compulsory. Religious education is wisely banned from the schools of Mexico, for the terror of priestly interference and domination has burned itself so deeply into Mexican memory that there is no desire to encourage a recurrence of these evils. In the place of religion there is instruction in moral precepts and civic ethics. Stress is laid on the virtues of temperance—instruction that is sadly necessary in Mexico, where the ravages of the national beverage may be witnessed on every hand—and the children are taught to be good citizens and good Mexicans. Many of the schools have their temperance societies, and as far as is possible the teachers are drawn from the ranks of total abstainers. The children appear happy and contented, intelligent, and eager for instruction, and their course of study by no means unfits them for the usual childish sports. Night schools flourish where the child may continue its education after leaving school, or the grown-up person may acquire that instruction which in early life he or she has been unable to obtain.
There are excellent training schools for teachers of both sexes. Many of these are Mixtecs and Zapotecs from the Southern States, the descendants of a highly civilised people who did much to spread the use of the old native calendar, the source of all native wisdom, throughout Mexico. In all these schools, not only instruction, but books and other apparatus are entirely free, even in such of the training colleges where the students of the professional classes resort.
The Mexican peon, when educated, does not seek to abandon the labour of his forefathers. He does not, as a rule, desire to become a clerk or to exchange his zarape for the black coat of commerce. This attitude may be regarded as lacking in ambition. On the other hand, it may prove his wisdom in avoiding the pitfalls of the life of the lesser bourgeoisie.
The foreign policy of Mexico has greatly varied with its Presidents. It certainly has not sought territorial expansion, one of the most fertile causes of international strife; but it has fiercely combated all foreign aggression on its own soil, as was shown during the French attempt at domination The Foreign
Policy of
Mexico. and the American invasion. Its official attitude towards the United States has, in recent years, been calm and dignified in face of a most difficult situation. Unintelligent opinion everywhere lays the outbreaks and slaughter in the North at the door of the official classes in the South; and one has even read leading articles in journals of good standing, which profess to be well informed, to the effect that Mexico must be classed as regards her type of civilisation with Turkey or Germany. The folly of such a statement is extreme, and could only have been penned in utter ignorance of the conditions prevailing in the Republic. Nor has American opinion on Mexican questions of State been much more enlightened. The American people, oblivious of their own stormy past, pretend to regard Mexico as peopled by a race dangerous and irreconcilable. They cannot advance the plea that they are so far distant from this folk that they may have misunderstood it for lack of facilities for closer study. One must remember, too, that the United States has shorn Mexico of some of her richest territories; and those in the Northern Republic who decry their neighbours should recall the outrageous story of the Conquest of Texas, stigmatised by a great American, General Grant, as the most unjust and unholy war ever waged by a great nation against a weaker one. They cannot be surprised if Mexico dreads that the lust of conquest and wealth known to exist in some quarters in the United States may overflow and swamp her completely. She has already ceded to America nearly 1,000,000 square miles of territory, or more than one-half her original area. Her mineral wealth has always been coveted by North American capitalists, who lose no opportunity for furthering their aims in the rich mining districts of the northern and central provinces.
As regards other countries, Mexico has been studiously friendly, yet cautious. British people were in the old days unfortunately confounded by the Mexicans with their North American relatives, much to their detriment, as the Yankees who frequented Mexican soil in these times were by no means of the haut temps; but when the distinction became clear, the Mexican began to appreciate the sterling qualities of the British race, who have ever since been popular and welcome within his borders.
The political power in Mexico was, prior to the revolution, disputed by two great parties, the Liberal
Internal
Politics. and Conservative. It will seem strange to British ears to be told that the first embraces the intellectual and cultured classes and the thinking part of the middle class. The Conservative Party, on the other hand, is under clerical domination, and consists for the most part of the lower classes and peons who are staunch supporters of the Church. Of course, the whole object of the Church is to regain its lost property, and to this end the entire weight of its political battery is directed. Its wonderful persistence in the face of such powerful odds as it meets with in the enlightened section of Mexican opinion would be touching, if it were not pitiful. It is, indeed, a lost cause of the most consummate character. For the most part, the common people are ignorant of the principles for which they vote. They only know that their suffrages are given in the cause of religion, and that knowledge fully suffices for them, or did so until quite recently.
But if the Church has certainly been a factor making for internal dissension, a very thorn in the flesh of the enlightened classes of Mexico, a much stronger element of dissatisfaction was awakened in Mexico through the conditions which of late years obtained in the Republic. The long régime of Diaz, peaceful and prosperous as it was, had an intensely irritating effect upon the younger members of the Liberal party. Diaz had surrounded himself by a group of men whose political interests were identical with his own, and their attitude, as we shall find, was responsible for the outbreak of the Revolution which ensued.