In the Mexican part of the plateau a third part of the people are full-blooded Indians; even more are part Indian and part Spanish; and about a quarter are Spanish speaking white people who rule the country. It is only in the Amer ican parts of this plateau that the white people actually outnumber the Indians.
The population is much denser in the Mexican than in the American section. The City of Mexico is larger than any American city between Kansas City and the Pacific Coast. Nine-tenths of the people of Mexico live on this plateau because it is much cooler and more healthful than the hot lowlands near the ocean.
147. Agriculture.—Since rain is so scanty here, little of the land can be cultivated, and most of it is in sheep and cattle ranches. It is so dry that in many parts fifty or sixty acres of land are required to keep one steer; and much land is required to support one family. Many of the plateau sheep and cattle go to the corn farms to be fattened.
Here and there where water can be secured, little patches of land are irrigated by Indians and white men. The Pecos and upper Rio Grande water many rich alfalfa fields.
It is only on the Rio Grande that we find a large storage irrigation sys tem. This is supplied the phant Butte reservoir, situated a short distance above El Paso, and built by the United States Govern ment in 1908. The flood water stored in this lake irrigatesthe plains around El Paso. Hundreds of farmers now grow crops of grain and alfalfa on land which before the coming of water was only a desert.
In the Mexican section the chief crops, where water can be had, are corn and beans. Many of the people live almost en tirely on the monotonous diet of corn cakes baked over an open fire, and beans seasoned with chile pepper.
148. Mining and transportation.—Precious metals have long been the chief wealth and the chief export of Mexico. This country is often called the metal storehouse of the world, and nearly all the Mexican metal, is in this plateau and the mountains along its edges. The Spaniards conquered the natives because they had such wealth in gold and silver. Metals will doubtless be the chief export a hundred years hence, as they have been for four hundred years past. In the past, silver has been the chief product of the mines, many of which could be reached only by mule trains, which traveled for two or three hundred miles inland from the seacoast over rough paths where wagons could not go. Under
such difficulties only the richest ores could be used. Ore was dug out by hand, and carried in sacks on the backs of men who climbed up ladders to the top of the mine. The ore was crushed by the "arras tra," a stone wheel which was rolled on a stone floor. The rolling wheel worked the heavy metal into wide cracks in the floor. After the lighter dust and particles of stone were swept away, the silver was taken out of the cracks with a spoon and carried off on muleback for further refining in smelters.
After American railroads had been built across the Rocky Mountains and the South western Plateaus to the Pacific Coast, lines were extended into Mexico. Mexican lines were also built from Vera Cruz and Tampico over the steep mountain wall into the plateau. Engines, pumps, and efficient mining ma chinery from the United States and Europe can now be taken to many Mexican mines, and the output of metal has been greatly increased. There are so many workers in these mines that, except for cattle, there is little food left for export from this part of the country, and some is imported from the United States.
The American part of these plateaus is also rich in metals. Such great deposits of copper have been found in Arizona that this state now produces more copper than any other state, and more than any single foreign country. Bisbee, Globe, and Jerome are three of the larger mining towns where men of many lands have come to do the work of digging metal. Among them we may see white men from the eastern states, native American Indians, native Mexican Indians, Spanish half-breeds, Italians, Greeks, Poles, and many other Europeans, and also a few Chinese and Japanese.
149. The need for good government.— The most important question about the future of the Mexican part of this country concerns the kind of government it will have. There has been so much fighting in Mexico that it is difficult to run a farm, a mine, or a school there, or even to live in peace. In New Mexico, government officiaLs are elected by ballot. Across the border, in Mexico, the officials have too often elected themselves with the aid of bullets, because so many of the people are impatient and uneducated. On the American side a man can work and be sure of his liberty and his property. On the Mexican side a mine owner has often said to the jefe or magistrate, " I want some men to work my mine." "All right," the jefe has replied.