Page:Mexico's dilemma.djvu/36

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26
MEXICO'S DILEMMA

told that not even President Carranza knows how it will be solved, although at least two solutions are possible.

When I crossed the international bridge at Laredo, Texas, and sauntered through the streets of Nuevo Laredo, a midget donkey, carrying a long-legged peon, trekked around the corner of the telegraph office. The Mexican had to hold up his feet to keep from dragging them in the dust. The beast was so small, and the man so tall, that head down it might have walked between his legs. Jostling behind the pair was a small "express" wagon such as American boys play with. It was loaded with grass, sufficient for about one meal for a hungry donkey. A string which the peon held was tied to the wagon tongue. And the beast was thus, presumably, hauling its load and food to the hovel which was their home.

I described this incongruous sight to an American who was en route to Mexico with me, whereupon he remarked:

"How typical of Mexico to-day—the old Biblical ass, the American toy and the lazy peon. Since the revolution all the progress Mexico made under Diaz has disappeared. Mexico to-day is stagnant."

A few minutes later, however, I went through the Nuevo Laredo freight depot with Mr. Randolph Robertson, U.S. Vice Consul at Monterey. Automobiles, food, machinery, household goods and thousands of different manufactured articles