Page:Historia Verdadera del Mexico profundo.djvu/236

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half and the industry to one-third. In 1822 the treasury income was nine and half million pesos, and expenses thirteen and a half million. And as if running an annual deficit of four million wasn't enough, the nascent country inherited a public debt of 76 million. The decline in government revenue was not purely transient; was largely due to the abolition of an unfair tax: the tax per capita of indians. [5 million Indians and 1 million spaniards, creoles, mestizos and blacks. A.N.] Neither the rise in public spending could be transitory: had to sustain a large and strong army to preserve the independence. The economy was doomed to a chronic state of bankruptcy and to fall into the clutches of the sharks, as it happened.

In the social order there was a lot to do. The statement of the legal equality of all Mexicans left the Indians, used to a regime of tutelage, helpless before the creoles. Equal rights increased the inequality of fortunes. The 3,749 large states grew at the expense of the lands of indigenous communities. It was also expected, with only the egalitarian legislation, a worsening of working conditions for peons and artisans. On another topic, the civil discord favors the mix of races and the consolidation of a middle class. From 1821 it will be middle class who dispute power from the landowner aristocracy.

The day after the successful independence the political difficulties surfaced: creole inexperience in public administration; inclination of the minor warlords to become kinglets of the areas where they had fought; desires of larger warlords of being Kings or presidents of the new country; partisans wars (complete lack of understanding between monarchists and republicans, military and civilians, clerics and bureaucrats); disinterest of the great mass of the population; acute political vehemence of the minority and especially of the middle class." (Luis González. 1973)

During the period called —independent Mexico—, all creoles were in agreement in that the civilization model had to be similar to the more advanced countries such as what Europe had under way and as that of the neighbors to the North had formed. After Iturbide, José

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