Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1883 — Non-Progressive Mexico. [ARTICLE]

Non-Progressive Mexico.

The country along the line of the Mexican. Central railroad in the United States would be called a wilderness. For 130 miles it does not run through a field or a cultivated spot, notwithstanding it is a magnificent country—l mean so far as the fertility of the land is concerned. It only needs American enterprise and industry to make it the most productive country on earth, but without foreign energy it will remain as it is until the end ; of time. The Mexicans have advanced less in the arts and sciences than any other nation. They use a plow of the same pattern ifljat old Father Abraham used, and the worst of it is they do not want a better, neither > would they use it if they had it Their general want of progressive ideas and - stupidity is a’great drawback td the railroad enterprises of the country. It is the only labor that can be had, so we have to make the best of it. It looks very ridiculous to see them packing on their backs wheelbarrows filled with dirt, or to see them thrown aside, and the men carrying dirt in their* aprons. They have no more idea how to use a shovel or spade than a hog has. They will in the most awkward manner imaginable get a handful of dirt on the shovel and walk a step or two to the place they wish to put it and hold the shovel with one hand while they rake the dirt off with the other. Neither are the better classes very much further advanced in general knowledge. For an illustration, some time ago several contractors came here from Texas, and brought their outfit, among which were a lot of cooking-, stoves and a very large cooking-range. They were required to pay S4O duty on each stove, but when they came to the ran ge they passed it free of duty, supposing it to be a steam engine. That is one wise thing the Government does allow—steam engines enter duty free. —Cor. Louisville Courier-Journal.