Chapter XII: The Mexican Government

The capital of a country is usually the best place to learn about its form of government, though it may not be the best place to find out how the government really works. The government of the “United States of Mexico” is in many ways like our own. The Mexican constitution, like many others, is modeled on ours. The action of the English colonies in America in declaring their independence of the mother country gave Mexico and other tyrannically ruled colonies in the New World courage to do likewise.

The young republics, naturally, found that what suited us did not altogether suit them. In general, they have made new constitutions, instead of trying to keep the old ones up-to-date by amendments. Still, the framework of government remains much like our own. In Mexico there are two senators from each state, as with us, but there are also two from the Federal District. Instead of calling the larger legislative branch the House of Representatives, Mexicans use the European term, Chamber of Deputies. Like our representatives the Mexican deputies are elected on a basis of population, one for each 60,000 inhabitants. All men can vote. A married man may vote at eighteen years of age, a single man at twenty-one.

In theory the president is elected by popular vote, for four years, and cannot be re-elected. He must be a Mexican by birth and at least thirty-five years old, and his father and mother must also be native Mexicans. Instead of waiting, like our presidents, until March 4, four months after election, the new Mexican president takes office December 1. In practice, however, most Mexican presidents have obtained office not by election but by force, gathering a small army and driving out whoever is president at the moment. Therefore the more intelligent and independent Mexicans often do not have a chance to vote, and so many of the others are told how to vote that there are seldom any real elections. The Supreme Court is supposed to be an independent body, like ours, but a dictator-president usually has so much power that he controls both the legislative and judicial branches of the government.

The Constitution of 1917

There has been so much talk about the Mexican constitution of 1917 that we must not pass on without glancing at it. It is much longer and more detailed than ours, and certain of its provisions are novel. Some people say that it is a Bolshevik constitution; others claim that it at last gives the ordinary people a fair chance, instead of letting the rich have everything. It provides that every Mexican who wants a piece of land shall have it. Any village that petitions will be given, from the neighboring big estates, enough land so that each family shall have twelve and a half acres of irrigated land or fifteen acres of inferior land. More than two million acres have already been distributed in this way. In some parts of the country the landowning families are allowed to keep from five to ten thousand acres. If they do not divide the rest and offer it for sale within a year, the government takes the property and divides it, giving government bonds in payment.

As about seventy per cent of the fifteen million inhabitants of Mexico make their living from the soil, this is an important reform. Until 1857 every village did have land for its people to cultivate. Then Juárez drafted a new constitution dividing the land and allowing the people to sell their property for very little to the big landowners. When they had foolishly done this, the peons had to work for the big _hacendados_ at any wage offered them. Many spent so much in advance at the _hacienda_ stores and for weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies presided over by the _hacienda_ priest that they were practically debt slaves.

Can Mexico ever be a country of small independent farmers? Some observers say no. Machinery and big irrigation works are needed. The great Boquilla Dam in the state of Chihuahua was built not by Mexicans but by an American company. The peons have no capital to invest in improvements, and they are not progressive or energetic. Near as they are to the United States, most of them have very primitive agricultural implements. Moreover, the peon does not want responsibility. He prefers a master who will tell him what to do. The best way to keep him at work is to keep him in debt. His reasoning seems to be: “If I am in debt to an _hacendado_ I am sure of my job. Therefore I do not wish to be out of debt and have land of my own.”

This plow was made by the farmer himself. It is entirely of wood
except for a little iron point, and it does not plow deep enough to
prepare the ground for really good crops.
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Under Diaz, foreigners owned much in Mexico, especially the mines. The new constitution says a foreigner cannot own land or water within a hundred kilometers (about 62 miles) of the frontier or of the coast. If he was already owner of any such property when the new constitution went into effect, he was allowed to go on holding it until he died, but he could not will it to his children unless they were Mexican citizens. In order to own land anywhere else in Mexico a foreigner must promise not to claim the protection of his home government; so far as concerns his property, he must be a Mexican.

The new constitution has also affected religious organizations in Mexico. The church laws that are now being enforced were also in the Juárez constitution of 1857, but they are regarded by the Roman Catholics, especially, as unjust. Many Mexicans believe that the Church and the government should be quite separate. Certain priests formerly exercised political influence and owned immense tracts of land. The 1917 constitution forbids the Church to own real estate. Under Calles the church buildings were taken over by the government, and the priests were allowed to use them only under certain conditions. Outdoor religious processions and other ceremonies were forbidden, and priests and nuns might not appear in public in their vestments.

Improving Agriculture

The “revolution,” as the Mexicans call the years of trouble and fighting that followed the downfall of Diaz, was directed against the big landowners. The new government policy is sympathetic toward labor, and gives advantages to the working people. An agricultural college has been established in Mexico City for men from every state. There are other similar schools elsewhere. The government sends out agricultural experts to give advice in even the remotest districts. They lecture in theaters, abandoned churches, public squares; they use the radio, the movies, and printed circulars to teach the people better farming methods. The federal government gives or sells seed and helps farmers to buy machinery. In most of Mexico’s twenty-eight states there is a National Bank of Agriculture in which both state and federal governments are interested.

The trouble is that while seventy per cent of the Mexican population lives on the land, only about one acre in ten is cultivated. Some soil is so fertile that it will yield three crops a year, even with the crude old methods and no fertilizing. But less than half the country is now useful for farming. The government is working hard on an irrigation program, and in time Mexico will probably have enough fertile land to support all its people.

Underwood & Underwood

Haying time in Mexico means the use of a two-wheeled oxcart. In most
parts of the country farming methods are still very primitive.
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Courtesy “Picturesque America”

The castle of Chapultepec near Mexico City, the summer home of the
president, is surrounded by a very beautiful park.
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Photo by Hugo Brehme, Mexico City

Among the “floating gardens” of Xochimilco, near Mexico City.
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