BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

THE MEXICAN PEOPLE
331
istence by special creation, which supports us when we
wish to believe that some men are created of superior
clay, that some are inherently better than others and
always must be better, that some are designed and intended
to occupy a station of special rank and privilege
among their fellow men. Forgotten is the scientific
truth that all men are shoots from the same stalk, that
intrinsically one man is no better than another, that in
the fulness of time the possibilities of one race or people
are no greater than those of any other. Whatever differences
there are between men and races of men are due,
not to inherent differences, but to the action of outside
influences, to soil and climate, to temperature and rainfall,
and to what may be denominated the accidents of
history following naturally, however, in the train of
these influences. "A man's a man for a' that and a'
that."
But there are differences. There are differences in
general between American.; and Mexicans. Let us see
if there are any differences which justify the condemnation
of Mexicans to slavery and government by a
despot.
What is a Mexican? Usually the term is applied
to the members of a mixed race, part native and part
Spanish, who predominate in the so-called sister republic.
Pure natives who long ago left the aboriginal state
are also often included in the category and they seem
to have a right to the name. In the government census
of 1900 the proportion of races is given as 43 per
cent mixed, 38 pure native and 19 of European or distinct
foreign extraction. The Mexican Year Book
thinks that the proportion of mixed peoples has greatly
increased in the past ten years until it is far more than
half the total today. The Mexican of today, then, is