Jasper County Democrat, Volume 10, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 July 1907 — WAGONS IN AMERICA. [ARTICLE]

WAGONS IN AMERICA.

They Were First Used Some Four Centuries Ago In Mexioo. To Us northerly neighbors Mexico seems a land of contradiction. It was exploited by the Spanish conquerors a hundred years before the pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and yet the American from the United States finds it a comparatively primitive and undeveloped country. In some respects gone back, losing the splendqr of Its early times, yet it Is a land now stirring with youth and growth. The carriage of goods affords an Instance of these paradoxical conditions,, for In Mexico, the first soil of the new world to be traveled by wheels, burdens are today largely borne on human backs. Says the New York Post: “There was never a wheel turned on the western hemisphere until about the year 1523 or 1524, when Sebastian de Apariclo brought some ox carts over from Spain and began huuling freight and passengers between Vera Cruz and the City of Mexico. He grew wealthy, moved to Puebla, became a lay brother of the Franciscans and died full of years, piety and honors In 1600, nine-ty-eight years of age. He was canonized by the pope and later was adopted as patron saint of Puebla. “Among the mountain and plateau tribes of Mexico, Central America and a large part pf South America transportation methods are precisely the same today as they were in the days of Cortes, Alvarado and Pizarro. The cargado (freighter) and the aguador (water carrier) are still omnipresent. The size of their self imposed burdens compels notice from the least observant traveler. “Mexico has been called the ‘land of the patient back.’ I| is a good names. The Indians, who form nearly half of her population, seem to be enamored of their burdens. The loads they carry would be far too much for the average white man.”