Mexico by G. W. Caviness

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 18, 1902

Mexico.

By G. W. Caviness

For nearly all Mexico there are but two seasons, the rainy season and the dry season. When it rains, it sets about it in good earnest, and keeps it up almost daily from the last of May or the first of June until October, then it stops as suddenly as it began, and for the remainder of the year there is practically no rain at all. In the matter of the seasons Mexico does not do things by the halves; when it rains, it does thorough work; and when dry weather comes, it is good-by to rain until the next year.

One crop can be raised each year in nearly all parts, and if a mountain stream can be controlled, or water caught in the rainy season can be kept in reservoirs and used in the dry weather for irrigation, two or three crops may be secured. There is still some government land on the market at prices ranging from fifty cents to three dollars an acre, depending of course on the quality and location. As there are comparatively few railroads in the country, much of the land can be reached only by mule and donkey paths over mountains and down deep and rugged gulleys.

The public lands are not always surveyed, and one cannot be sure of his claim in every case. Various companies have secured large sections, and offer land for sale at prices ranging from one dollar an acre up. The titles given by such companies are a little more sure to cover the land purchased, and the prices vary according to whether it is near civilization or in the wilderness. Life and property, except small things that can be carried away readily, are generally safe throughout the country. One need have no more fear while traveling in Mexico than in the United States. The natives generally are kind and hospitable.

Such grains as corn, wheat, oats, and barley do well in most parts of the country. The fruits and vegetables of temperate zones are produced in the higher parts, while in the lower sections grow tropical fruits, sugar-cane, coffee, and rubber trees.

Much of the farming is still done in crude and ancient ways. Grain is trampled out by oxen or mules, and the forked stick is used for a plow. I have seen from twelve to twenty yoke of oxen in a small field of only a few acres plowing with that kind of plow. Each yoke had a separate plow and driver. Modern implements and methods are being introduced in various parts, and the country is being transformed rapidly; but much still remains to be done.

The farm laborers are ignorant and poor, living much like animals, in a rude and filthy condition. Frequently chickens, pigs, and other animals live in the same room with the people. Such persons certainly live close to nature, but are not elevated by the association. Their clothing, when they have any, consists of a shirt and trousers of cotton cloth, a hat, a pair of sandals made of sole leather, and a blanket, which they carry around with them by day, and in which they sleep at night.

The staple articles of food for this class are corn cakes and beans. Wages are from thirty-seven to fifty cents a day, Mexican money. Many times they spend for drink the greater part of the few cents they get, so higher wages would not be a real blessing unless they were helped to a better life at the same time. For this class some Christian families with unlimited patience and love of souls could do a noble work. Enough money to purchase suitable property and keep the workers a year or so while getting started and learning enough of the language to do ordinary business would be essential.

G. W. CAVINESS.