Two sombreros filled with pesos meant something to him. Four thousand pesos, that sum was a myth.
It is not the ignorance of the peons or the Indians, however, which makes the financial situation in Mexico difficult to solve. It is the ignorance of many officials and leaders regarding international finance. So many Mexicans cannot understand the relationship which should exist between nations, although they have a clear idea of money matters between individuals.
Discussing the problems of finance and reconstruction with Mexican officials one is impressed by the fact that so few of these can see the viewpoint of the outside business man, the foreign capitalist. Most Mexicans will say that because of the rich natural resources of the country any foreigner ought to be willing to loan money to the government. The resources are here, many of them still untouched, they will declare, and if foreign capital invests in Mexico, it should be prepared to share prosperity or revolution with Mexico.
The pacification of Mexico to-day presents in many respects the same problem with which the United States Government had to deal after the Civil War. The Mexican bandits are, so to say, the Ku-Klux Klan of this country. Generals Villa and Zapata may be likened to the James brothers. The difference is that in the United States the bandits attacked American or national
