BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

THE MEXICAN PEOPLE
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aild each new mouth needing its own hands while they
are yet the soft hands of a its these things
and you may faintly appreciate the difficulties which the
common Mexican encounters in trying to improve his
condition. For all practical purposes they are insurmountable.
And how about the capacity of Mexicans for democracy?
The assertion that democracy is not compatible
with "the Spanish-American character" seems to be
based wholly upon the fact that a considerable percentage
of the Spanish-American countries—though not all
of them—are still ruled by dictators, and that changes
in the government come only through revolutions by
which one dictator is succeeded by another. This state
of affairs was brought about by the peculiar history of
these countries rather than by "the Spanish-American
character." Ruled as slave colonies by foreigners, these
countries asserted enough valor and patriotism to overthrow
the foreigner and expel him. Their struggle for
freedom was long and bitter; moreover, being small countries,
their national existence was in danger for considerable
periods after their independence. Therefore,
of necessity the military calling became a donilnent profession
and militarism and dictatorships followed naturally.
Today what Spanish-American countries as are
still ruled by dictators are ruled by dictators largely because
of the support accOrCiedi the latter by foreign governments,
which oppose democratic movements sometimes
even with arms. Diaz is not the only Spanish-
American dictator who is supported by the United States
at the behest of Wall street. During the past five years
several of the most notorious of the Central American
dictators have been held in their places only by a military
demonstration on the part of this country.