NOTES FOR A BOOK ABOUT MEXICO By HOWARD VINCENT OBRIEN WILLETT, CLARK COMPANY CHICAGO NEW YORK 1937 Copyright 1937 by WILLETT, CLARK COMPANY Manufactured in The U. S. A. by The Plimpton Press Norwood, Mass. La Porte, Ind. To FRANK KNOX Contents STRICTLY TOURIST i TOWARD THE HOT TAMALE 3 SERIOUS BUSINESS 6 LAND OF MANNERS 9 ON BALL BEARINGS 12 BEEF EN BROCHETTE 15 CONTRADICTIONS 18 BEADS FOR THE NATIVES 21 SHADOW AROUND THE BEND 24 THE SEAMY SIDE 27 GREENER FIELDS 30 CONFUSED AND CONFUSING 33 MAKING NIGHT HIDEOUS 36 SPEAKING OF MONEY 39 FROM PRINTER TO PRESIDENT 42 CHURCH AND STATE 45 A GREAT EXPERIMENT 49 FIESTA OR CARNIVAL 52 BANDIT OR PATRIOT ………. 55 OREMUS 58 THE LITTLE ONES 62 WHAT A WOMAN 65 Vll viii CONTENTS MORE FIREWORKS 68 LAND OF EXTREMES 71 REACHING FOR LIGHT 74 PIG IN THE ROAD 77 SWEET DO-NOTHING 80 ALLO ALLO 83 REVOLUTIONARY WEAPON 87 EMERGING FROM DARKNESS 90 ACCURATE BUT UNTRUE 93 ATROCITIES 96 THE MODERN TOUCH 99 CROOKS AND CRACKPOTS 102 MINGLED YARN 105 MEMORABLE AFTERNOON 109 THE HAND OF FATE .113 NOT THE CUSTOM 116 LEARNING TO LOSE 119 GAS-TANK CAPS AND CYPRESS 122 UNDER THE RED FLAG 125 Lo, THE POOR INDIAN 128 GOING Too FAR 131 LUCKY ENCOUNTER ……… 134 CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 137 HAPPY LANDING 140 SOCIAL SECURITY 144 ASSORTED VEXATION 147 CONTENTS ix WISE OLD OWL 150 PAINT AND PROPAGANDA 153 SCHOOLMASTER 156 DIVIDING THE LAND 159 No ILLUSIONS 162 BOOTS AND SADDLES 165 ESCORTED BY THE POLICE 168 ALONE AT LAST 171 Foreword Before writing a book about a country, one should study its history, geography and language. Then, after taking a course of lectures in its art, archaeology and economics, one should arm himself with letters to leaders of thought and, finally, take up residence for at least a year. I have done none of those things. I came to Mexico wholly unequipped, having read little about it and forgotten most of that. I knew only a few words of Spanish mostly irrele vant, I met few important people, my contacts being chiefly with clerks, porters, policemen, taxi drivers and small children. I came with no convictions, except that the Mexicans were a gay and lazy lot, likely to be disagreeable to Americans. I left with no conclusions except that the Mexicans were the precise opposite of all I had feared they would be. What follows in these pages was written for newspaper publication, and I have resisted the temptation to benefit by hindsight. It remains what it was a day-by-day record, often hastily composed, of two months below the Rio Grande. It is, of course, notably inaccurate, superficial and repetitious. I only hope it proves sufficiently irritating to make its readers want to go and see for themselves. THE AUTHOR London, May i, 1937
