(1918) On the Road to Democracy (Mexican Politics)

8/9/2019 (1918) On the Road to Democracy (Mexican Politics)

1/182


2/182


3/182

o

Q

'

^m. V ! %

^'

o

^.>

_ o i^


4/182


5/182

3lHt^rti:r |l^ ^ani

to 5emoj:racg


6/182


7/182


8/182


9/182

ON THE ROADTO DEMOCRACY


10/182

BY THE SAME AUTHOR:RUDIMENTARY INSTRUCTION IN THE

REPUBLIC

HYGIENE IN MEXICO

A RESEARCH CONCERNING POPULAREDUCATION


11/182


12/182

Copyright by A. J. Pani, 1918.


13/182

Cf>'-0

FOREWORD.

Yielding to the benevolent solicitations of sev-eral of my friends, I now venture, to publish inthis little volume certain statements which I havehad the necessity of making during the dischargeof my official functions, because they synthesizeand set out in relief some of the most importantcharacteristics of the present presidential policy,and, above all, because it is possible that theirpublicationsimilarly to that of my former book'Hygiene in Mexico'done at the expense of theGovernment and for the benefit of the MexicanPopular University, may contribute to promotethe work of educating our people, undertaken bythat worthy Institution.

Mexico, D. F. July 1918.A. J. P.


14/182


15/182

THE CONSTITUTIONALISTGOVERNMENT FACE TO FACE

WITH THE SANITARYAND EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS

OF MEXICOAddress delivered to the Members of

the American Academy of PoHticaland Social Science and of the Penn-sylvania Arbitration and Peace So-ciety, in "Witherspoon Hall," Phila-delphia, Penn., U. S. A.


16/182


17/182

Mr. Chairman:Gentlemen of the Academy and of the Pennsyl-

vania Arbitration and Peace Society:Ladies and Gentlemen:During the most acute and violent period of an

armed revolutiona veritable infernal chaos where,after destroying everything they come across, afrenzied people seem bent on suicide in a bodyreports of isolated cases however horrible in them-selves, cause next to no impression in view of theawfulness of the general catastrophe. According asthe struggle attains some sort of organization by thegrouping together of men round the various nucleirepresenting the different antagonistic principles atwork, individuals gradually grow in importance un-til the nucleus which best interpreted the ambitionsand requirements of the people acquires an absolute

[11]


18/182

ALBER TO J . P AN Iascendency. Then this group is unreasonably ex-pected strictly to fulfill all the obligations incum-bent on a duly constituted Government. The scandalthen produced by the reports of isolated cases ofcalamity suffered whether by individuals or onproperty, is all the more intense in porportion as thefrequency with which such cases occur, diminishes.That is precisely what is happening in regard to

the present Government of Mexico. Take any twodates from the beginning of its organization. Com-pare dispassionately the relative conditions of na-tional life, and it will necessarily have to be admittedthat the country is rapidly returning to normal polit-ical and social conditions. It is also undeniablethat, for instance, the temporary interruption of aline of communication or the attack on a train or vil-lage by rebels and outlaws, now causes an exagger-ated impression perhaps because people have al-ready forgotten that but a short time ago the greaterpart of the railway lines and the cities of the Re-public were in the hands of those rebels and outlaws^and that in the very territory controlled by the Con-stitutionalist Government, trains and towns wereonly but too frequently assaulted.

[12]


19/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYBut what is altogether inconceivable is that peo-

ple should wish to make the present Governmentresponsible for the transgressions of its predeceesors.The Revolution itself is a natural consequence ofthose transgressions. Former Governments who knewnot how to avert the Revolution, are responsible forthe evils which it may have brought along with it;and if the Nation is to be saved, as it shall be, itwill be due solely to those citizens who hitherto havebeen and hereafter will be ready to sacrifice them-selves to so lofty and noble a purpose. It is indeedonly through personal sacrifice that it is possible toconstruct a true Fatherland.The enemies of the new Regimeirreconcilable

as they are through their unwillingness to accept theshare of sacrifice demanded of them by the latterare now burning their last cartridges unjustifiablylaying the blame on the Constitutionalist Govern-ment for many of the calamities which in themselveswere the cause of the Revolution, and which theGovernment, prompted by the generous impulse towhich it owes its very life, purposes to remedy. Thusmay be explained many of the protests of the mal-

[13]


20/182

ALBER TO J . PANIcontents andit must necessarily be admittedthemonstrosity of the fact that those protests are all themore loud and energetic when money even ratherthan life itself is at stake.The subject that I have chosen for my address to

you to-night refers to one of those calamitiesdisgraceful legacy of the pastwhich inimical in-terests are beginning to take advantage of to attackthe Constitutionalist Government. This Govern-ment is the first of all the Governments that haveruled the destinies of Mexico, seriously to concern it-self about the matter and earnestly to strive to rem-edy the evil. Having been appointed by Mr. Ca-rranza, who is in charge of the Executive Power ofMexico, to study the question, I shall merely haveto summarize or copy fragments from the study ( 1I made of it, in order to develop the theme which Ihave just announced.

* *"One of the most imperative obligations imposed

by civilization upon the State is the due protection(1) The whole of the study is contained in my book '"Hygiene in Mexico."

published by 'Ballesc6,' Mexico, 1916, and by Q. P. Putman's Sons, New Yorkand London, 1917. One volume 8to.

[14]


21/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYof human lifethus making the progressive growthof Society possibleat the same time popularizingthe precepts of Private and practising those of Pub-lic Hygiene. To accomplish the former it has theSchool, as an excellent means of propaganda, at itsdisposal; as regards the latter, which has a moredirect influence on health, it has recourse principal-ly to special establishments (for medical, disinfect-ing and prophylactic purposes). Sanitary Engi-neering Works and laws and regulations the strictobservance of which is entrusted to a suitably or-ganized technical, administrative and police person-nel. It may therefore be stated without any fear ofexaggeration, that there is a necessary relation of di-rect proportion between the sum of civilization ac-quired by a country and the degree of perfectionattained by its sanitary organization."The activities of General Diaz' Government, in

this respect, during the thirty odd years of forcedpeace and apparent material well-being, were almostexclusively devoted to the carrying out of works in-tended for the gratification of vanity or as meansof speculation; but very seldom were such works

[IS]


22/182

ALBER TO J. PANIundertaken with a view to meeting the actual andmost urgent needs of the country. 'Tis true, magnifi-cent buildings were erected. The National Theaterand the Capitol alone, both left unfinished, were tohave cost sixty million pesos. The execution of worksof public utility when undertaken, was made sub-servient to the illegitimate ends already pointed out.Thus for example, city improvement works whichwere never finished even in the Capital of the Re-public, notwithstanding the notorious unhealthy con-ditions of some of the most important towns, werealways started laying down magnificent and expen-sive asphalt pavements which it became necessaryto destroy and replace whenever a drain or a waterpipe had to be put in. Finally, the Government edu-cation workwithout which, in a country like ours,every other endeavour of national aggrandizementis of very little valueseemed preferently to consistin the erection of costly School buildings . It is for-sooth only in view of such things that the reasonmay be found why the proportion of individualswho know how to read and write should not amountto even 30% of the total population of the Republic.

[16]


23/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYThe net results in this respect as shown by the

long administration of General Diaz cannot be moreappalling. Taking the average death-rate corre-sponding to the nine years comprised between 1904and 1912the heyday of the administrationwefind in the city of Mexico, where the largest sum ofculture and material progress has accumulated, anannual death-rate of 42.3 deaths per thousand, thatis to say:

I. It is nearly three times the average coefficientof the death-rate in American cities of similar den-sity (16.1);

II. Nearly twice and a half times greater than theaverage coefficient of the death-rate in comparableEuropean cities (17.53), and

III. Greater even than the coefficient of the death-rate in the Asiatic and African cities of Madras andCairo 39.51 and 40.15 respectively, notwithstandingthat in the former cholera morbus is endemic.

The annual average death-rate corresponding tothe same period in the city of Mexico, due possi-bly to avoidable diseases, were the precepts of publicand private hygiene duly to be followedthe which

[17]


24/182

ALBER TO J . PANIconstitutes an irrefragable arraignment against theadministration of General Diaz amounts to morethan 11,500 deaths. Now, as the deaths causedby the Revolution in six years certainly do notamount to 70,000, it turns out that the Governmentof General Diaz so greatly extolled both by friendsand foesin the acme of peace and prosperity wasnot killing fewer people in the city of Mexico alone,than did a formidable revolution that set afire theentire Republic and horrified the whole world.The fact is that General Diaz' Government was

not acquainted or systematically pretended to beunacquainted with the formula of integral progresswhich is the only one that really ennobles Human-ityand wasted its energies in showy manifestationsof a purely material and fictitious progress, with itsinevitable train of vice and corruption. The pompand pageantry with which the centenary of NationalIndependence was celebrated, the most shamelesslie with which the world has ever been deceivedw"as being displayed precisely on the eve of the out-break of the popular revolution of 1910, beforewhose first onrush the Government crumbled topieces like a house of cards.

[18]


25/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACY*

Let us now turn to the Constitutionalist Govern-ment. The firm resolve of bettering the social and in-dividual conditions of the people is written on itsbanner, and its sincerity and energy is being provennot with words only but verily with deeds.

During its sojourn in Veracruztowards the closeof 1914 and the first six months of 1915whilstthe Army was reconquering the territory of the Re-public, which at the outset was almost entirely in thehands of the enemy, the Constitutionalist Govern-ment, notwithstanding having to devote most dili-gent atention to the prosecution of the most activecampaign ever recorded in the annals of MexicanHistory, yet found time for the study and resolu-tion of all matters connected with the efficient politi-cal and administrative reorganization of the country.

"Whoever with but a superficial knowledge ofour History calmly reviews the long and complicat-ed process of formation of our nationality, fromthe pre-Cortes periodthrough the Conquest, thedays of the Viceroys, the wars of Independence, the

[19]


26/182

ALBER TO J . PANIcon\^lsions (solely interrupted by the forced peaceof Porfirio Diaz) of nearly a whole century of au-tonomous existencedown to our own times, willnecessarily discover in the most salient manifesta-tions of the life of the national organism, the mostunmistakable symptoms of a serious pathologicalcondition, originated by two principal causes, to witthe loathsome corruption of the upper and theunconsciousness and wretchdness of the lower clas-ses."The iniquitous means employed by don Porfirio

to impose peace during more than thirty years, notonly nullified every effort that tended to remedythe evils indicated, but furthermore determined theirgreater intensity. Indeed, he generously gratified theunbridled appetites of his friends ; he ruthlessly andcriminally annihilated those who were not addictedto him; he fostered the cowardice and lying withwhich the atmosphere was saturated, systematicallyrepressing with an iron hand every manly impulse,at the same time hampering the free and honestexpression of the truth ; he placed the administrationof justice unconditionally at the service of the inte-

[20]


27/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYrests of the rich and always turned a deaf ear tothe complaints of the poor; in one word, he increas-ed the immorality and corruption of the reducedand privileged ruling classes and in consequencethe sufferings of the immense, despoiled, ignorantand starving majority. Thus then, the thirty oddyears of peace only served still further to deepen thesecular chasm of hatred and rancor that separatesthe two classes mentioned, and necessarily and fa-tally to provoke the formidable social upheavalwhich initiated in 1910 has frenziedly shaken thewhole Republic to its very foundations."

"It is incontrovertible that the three aspects whichI have presented of the problemthe economic, in-tellectual and socialcoincide with the ends pursuedby education, through the schools as ideally dreamedof by thinkers, that is, as 'institutions whose objectis to direct and control' the formation of habits inorder to attain the highest social good." Our schoolsunfortunately have not yet acquired the necessarypower appreciably to lessen the horrible ambientimmorality or to counterbalance at least to a cer-tain degree its inevitable effects of social dissolu-tion."

[21]


28/182

ALBER TO J . PANI''The real problem of Mexico therefore consists

in physically and morally hygienizing the peopleand by every means available striving to better theprecarious conditions of our proletariat."

"That part of the solution of the problem whichtherefore corresponds to the official educational ac-tivities of the Department or the Municipalities,must be performed according to what has alreadybeen set forth, by establishing and maintaining thegreatest possible number of schools, for which pur-pose it will be necessary to reduce their cost bymeans of a rational simplification of organizationand of school programs, without losing sight of thefact that its preferential orientations should bemarked by:the essentially technological characterof the teaching in order to cooperate together withall the other organs of the Government in the workof the economic betterment of the masses; and bythe diffusion of the elementary principles of hygieneas the sole efficient protection of the race.""And finally, as the medium constitutes a more

powerful educational factor than the schools them-selves, the country necessarily needs first and fore-

[22]


29/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRAC Ymost to organize its public administration upon abasis of absolute morality."

In closing, confining myself to the object of thisaddress, it will suffice to state that when the Consti-tutionalist Government controlled but an insigni-ficant portion of the country,precisely at the timewhen "dollars" were so much needed for the pur-chase of war materialseveral hundred professorswere sent to the principal centers of learning in theUnited States for the purpose of procuring the bestdata available, and on their return suggest theadequate reforms in school matters that should beintroduced in Mexico.

Subsequently, in spite of the great and innumer-able difficulties which seemed to obstruct every stepof the Government, it has been made possible con-siderably to increase the number of schools alreadyexisting before the Revolution, so much so that insome of the States the number has been even doubl-ed. Important city improvement works have beencarried out in Mexico, Saltillo, Queretaro, Vera-cruz, etc., and the dredging of the Panuco River isabout to be started, it having been specified in the

[23]


30/182

ALBERTO J. PANIrelative contract that the soil to be dug out shall beused to fill in the marshy belt that surrounds Tam-pico, whereby the chief cause of the unhealthiness ofthat city will be made to disappear.

In short, in order that the Government that hassprung from the Constitutionalist Revolution maycarry out its program of public betterment, whichimplies the physical and moral hygienizing of Mex-ico, the only thing it needs is to be given the timewithin which it may be humanly possible to do it.Only by some sort of magic art could it in a mo-ment transform a set of human beings into a choirof angels and a piece of the earth into a Paradise.

Philadelphia, Penn.November the 10th. 1916.

[241


31/182

REVOLUTIONARY DESTRUCTIONAND

GOVERNMENTAL RECONSTRUCTIONAddress of welcome to the Mem-

bers of the First National Congressof Merchants.


32/182


33/182


34/182

ALBER TO J . P AN IThe armed struggle having come almost to an

end and constitutional orderinterrupted by theexecrable military uprising of "La Ciudadela"having been reestablished, the present Governmentcan be nothing but the Revolution itself, politicallyinstituted to give tangible and actual form to itsnoble ideals of the regeneration of a people whoduring the lapse of well nigh four hundred years,has not been permitted to lead but an abominable,crouching life full of misery and privation. If theGovernment then is the genuine political incar-nation of the Revolution, the National CommercialCommunity diligently hearkening to the invitationtendered by the former, adheres to its lofty pur-poses of popular regeneration and openly declaresitself for the Revolution.

If, on the other hand, the Commercial Commu-nity succeed in shaping their future conduct tothis profession of faithas it is to be hopedthey will deserve well of their country. And itcannot be otherwise: after the present inauguralsession, whichas I have just pointed outisabove all, the solemn oath under the law taken

[28]


35/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYby the Commercial Community before the Presi-dent of the Republic, in the presence of the Honora-ble Diplomatic and Consular Corps, in order thatthe resonance of this act be carried in all its loftinessbeyond our boundaries and spread over the wholeof the civilized world ; once this formal and solemnpromise of cooperation with the Government in itsarduous task of renovation has been made; sfterso clamorous a manifestation of patriotism from awhole communitythe one possessing perhaps thegreatest moral influence of allno one, absolutelyno one, will ever dare to break the word now pledg-ed.

Where then, in brief, lies the path that theCommercial Community must follow if they areto live up to the covenant they have made with theGovernment? Simply that which the public wealshall mark out to them.

It is a well known fact that our social commu-nity economically is constitutedthrough causesthat date back to the Conquest and whose influence

[29]


36/182

ALBER TO J . PANIis felt even in our own daysby two solegroups, the wealthy and the poor; that thosein exalted positions, the strong, although constit-uting an insignificant minority, have exerted adecisive influence on the administration for thepurpose of placing at the disposal of their personalinterests not only the superiority of wealth, butalso political power, the sovereignty of the State,administrative force; that those in humble life, theweak, although in an overwhelming majority, havebeen the despoiled, the starved, the ignorant,passive members of the political, life, similar toslaves, to serfs; and as a necessary consequence ofa co-existing, invincible, antagonism between thetwo groups, the atmosphere has reeked with hatred,rancor and mistrust. Under social conditions,fraught with such defects, it is easy to comprehendthat our sickly national organism should almostexclusively and only too frequently have beenshaken by bloody struggles of classes, hinderingits progress of evolution, ruthlessly condemning itto be ever swinging backward and forwardas ifgoverned by the synchronic movement of a fatal

[30]


37/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYpendulumbetween the bane of a dictatorship,and, a thousand times worse, that of anarchy.The Porfirian dictatorship, was the longest of

all, and too, was that which most deepened theabyss separating the two groups already mention-ed, through the effects produced by the economicprogress attained, and the scandalous degree ofcorruption into which the higher classes had sunk-en. Hence it comes that the successive swingingof the pendulum of our misfortunes in the oppositedirection, should necessarily have had to mark themost relentless and bloody intestine war recordedin Mexican history.When the vindicative movement of 1910 wasinitiated, after a very brief struggle and yieldingprincipally to the enormous weight of public opin-ion, the dictatorship consented to compromise ina minimum degree with popular demandsaloneconsidering those of a purely political natureandto place the Revolution on the road to constitution-alism, merging it so to speak into the dictatorialgovernment, or rather the former being absorbed bythe latter. This agreement magnanimously accepted

[31]


38/182

ALBER TO J . PANIby the revolutionary Leader, with the manifestpurpose of averting a calamitous war, now bearsin the light of the horrifying events that followedthe aspect of a trap skilfully laid by thedictatorship. In truth, after a brief interregnumof relative and but apparent tranquilityinreality of cryptic activities and disloyalty, ofintrigue and plottingthe monied and clericalreaction incarnated . in a loathsome lombrosianspecimen, again usurped power and rewarded thenameless crimes of their hero, grotesquely attempt-ing to invest himby the very proceedings whereofit availed itself to smother the vindictive conflagra-tion almost at its very birthwith the elevated officeof constitutional president.

Fortunately, however, the bloody triumphs ofusurping violencewhich lack the guarantee of du-ration that justice and right alone imparthaveever lasted but a short time. Although the reactionfound support in the army and in the Powers of theFederation and of almost all of the Statesanunquestionable proof of the corrupting influence ofthe past dictatorshipthe people once again took

[323


39/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYup arms in defense of their insulted rights. The Planof Guadalupe whichwith an audacity borderingon heroism and relying solely on the excellence ofthe principles whence it originated and the object itpursued, without falsehoods, nor chimerical prom-ises of any kind, nor any of that bombastic andempty literature contained in the hundreds of "rev-olutionary proclamations" recorded in our historyproclaiming in the simplest manner the resolutionto disown the illegality of the usurping regime andto use violence to destroy it, and entrusting thesupreme command to a popularly elected function-arythe then Constitutional Governor of Coahuilacondensed with admirable sincerity and preci-sion the most imperative needs of the country atthat solemn and historical moment and succeededin unifying the liberating movement. And, the Rev-olution having learnt a lesson from very harshand very recent experiencespread with an irresist-ible and sweeping onrush from victory to victoryover the whole Republic, annihilated the FederalArmy and obstreporously overthrew the Govern-ment of the usurper.

[33] s


40/182

ALBER TO J . PANIThe struggle did not end here. In a community

such as ours, so imperfectly constituted, antagonismbetween classesemphasized by economic pro-gress, as happened particularly during the latterpart of the Porfirian dictatorshipalways bringsabout a greater mental inequality and a general low-ering of the moral standard: what the upper clas-ses gain in intelligence, in technical and economiccapacities, they lose in political and social virtues;whilst the lower classes besides remaining at a muchlower level as regards intellectual culture and tech-nical and economic capacities, at the same timepartially lose their former virtues of discipline,frugality, &c., without the loss being immediatelyof the same or of a more elevated character. Thusthen the lack of consciousness or of morality, orof both, of a good many in the revolutionary ranksimportant factors in anarchypresented theReaction a propitious field wherein to display itsmarvellous skill for corruption, and the divisionin the Vindicative Army was wrought, through theinfidelity of the Northern Division, at the verymoment when the people celebrated the total disap-pearance of the Federal Army.

[34]


41/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYThis phase of the strugglewhich begins

towards the end of 1914 with the chaos broughtabout by the dismemberment of the revolutionaryorganism and which might be called despite thatoriginal chaotic condition, one of political purifi-cation and strengthening of that organism, sincethe moral purification was hardly initiated bythe former is characterized by the efficientwork of administrative and political reorganiza-tion of the Preconstitutional Government, in har-mony with the general outlines for the reconstructionof the country, sketched in the memorable decree ofthe 12th, of December 1914, and by a brilliantcampaign carried on against treason, much bloodierand much more destructive than all the precedingones, because in civil war fury is ever proportion-ate to the degree of affinity between the contend-ing parties.The faithless once annihilated and the revolu-

tionary organism politically purified and strength-ened, it became possible to reestablish constitu-tional order in the country, not however throughproceedings vainly masked with a false appearanceof legality, such as were employed by the Reaction

[35]


42/182

ALBER TO J . PANIin its attempt to annoint their "Hero" with,a dignity criminally usurped, but through theunavoidable mandate of the sovereign will of thepeople. The people therefore, when ratifying theconfidence they had placed in the Chief of theRevolution, by conferring upon him the highoffice of Constitutional President of the UnitedMexican States, has wished to signify beyond anydoubt, that the present Government of the Republiccould not and should not beas I said beforean}1;hing less than the Revolution itself, politicallyinstituted to carry into effect the principles of pop-ular regeneration, which it has proclaimed and thathave cost such torrents of blood and tears.

From the preceding brief summary must bededuced with all the force of invincible logic, thatif the Revolution has brought or is about to bringto an end the military campaign against the ene-mies of order and progress, it should most dili-gently follow upin order that the blood andtears that have been shed may crystalize in actualbenefit to the countrythat other no longer milita-

[36]


43/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYry but now peaceful campaign of reconstructionof the nation upon bases that through theirstability and resistance shall insure or at leastmake possible the unlimited development andevolution of the Mexican people. This work ofreconstruction very much more difficult andslower than the destructive work of armsconsiststhen of two parts:the recovery of the aggregateamount of material and moral welfare lostbecause war always involves a retrogression to alower level of civilizationand the cure, so tospeak, of the serious disease of economic consti-tution under which our community labours.

In the same way as the Constitutional ex-Go-vernor of Coahuila and Chief of the Revolutionappealed to the patriotism of the citizens to adhereto the popular cause and take up arms, and or-ganized armies and carried on a military campaij^nthis being what the salvation of the countryimperatively demandedthis same Chief of theRevolutiona title which the Mexican people havesubstituted for that of Constitutional Presidentof the United Mexican Statesnow also appeals

[37]


44/182


45/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYdevelopment of the commercial activities of thecountryinterchange of information, &c., but italso signifies advice, whereby the people maythe better profit by the especialistic competition oftheir experts. I said something on another occa-sion which I wish to repeat now:"Our susceptibi-lity as public funtionaries cannot be hurt if we agreenor may we do otherwisethat our political andadministrative organization, yet in swaddlingclothes, must necessarily go through a period ofinfancy during which the blunders will be thegeneral rule and the contrary the exception. Inorder to succeed, with the aid of a mature expe-rience, in reversing the order of these terms, wemust trample .all selfishness under foot and notallow bastard passions to introduce discord arr^ongus, and we must consolidate our debilities by evermore and more strengthening that only bond ofunion that brings true citizens together: the loveof country.""And the least that patriotism may demand of

us now, in our capacity as public functionaries,is humility, wherewith to accept advice; serenity

[39]


46/182

ALBER TO J . PANIof judgment prudently to select it; and perseveringand unflinching honesty to put it into practice."

But if active and mutual cooperation, unswerv-ingly patriotic and unselfish on the part both ofthe Commercial Community and of the Govern-ment, is necessary to recover what has been lostthrough the war in material welfare and in moralsin so far as regards the commercial activities ofthe countryit is even more necessary if theexhausted organism of the nation is to be restoredto health and enabled to live a healthy normal lif^?.A community which is principally composed of afew privileged ones and of a great mass of prole-tarians, wherein the former are able rapidly toaccumulate fabulous wealth with immense facilityregardless of personal savings or work, and re-gardless too of the personal savings or work of theirforefathers, and the latter find themselves in thematerial impossibility of rising to the category ofcapitalists, is destined to be transformed into amass composed of naught but parasites andbeggars, in the end disappearing after a more orless protracted yet most violent and painful agony.

[401


47/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYThis is, then, a serious pathological condition,

revealed by the almost uninterrupted brutalstruggles between classes, a condition to whichit is imperative to find a remedy. Whereforeextraordinary joint efforts must be made tendingto the intellectual, moral and economic regenera-tion of the proletarian, and to the formation andencouragement of an autonomous MIDDLECLASS.

"Everybody is interestedsays the Belgian" Deputy Cooremanin the betterment of the" moral and material condition of the working" classes and they are right. . . . But the preser-" vation, the prosperity of the middle class is no" less just, and public interests demand that its" existence be not jeopardized. It is important to" social equilibrium that the differences between" the wealthy and the working classes be harmo-" nized by the middle class, characterized by the" union, in the same hands, of capital and labour." If harmony is to reign in society it is indispen-" sable that there be in the social ladder, between" the top and the bottom rungs, a series of other

[41]


48/182

ALBER TO J . PANI" intermediate ones uniting the two extremes by" gradations more numerous rather than more" distant apart."

The revolutionary tendency is not directed to-wards a utopic socialistic levelling: its social idealis to permit every man to obtain from the aggre-gate sum of wellbeing acquired by the wholecommunity, a part proportionate to his personalcontribution of labour, intelligence and economy.

Be pleased, Gentlemen, Delegates to this Con-gress, to contribute with all the might and strengthwhereof you may be capable, to the realization ofso lofty an ideal of justice and be ye welcome.

Mexico, D. F.July the 12th. 1917.

[42]


49/182

THE UNDERSTANDINGBETWEEN THE GOVERNMENT

AND COMMERCEToast proposed at the banquet giv-

en]],by the Board of Directors of theNational Chamber of Commerce ofthe City of Mexico to the Delegatesto the Congress.


50/182


51/182


52/182

ALBERTO J . P AN Ihad the opportunity of producing two contactsand thereby two currents; the one of mutual un-derstanding, the other of affection and sympathy.The first contact is, so to speak, not material,

yet fruitful in benefits to a whole people: a contactbetween abstractions called "Government of theRepublic" and "National Commerce." The merecontact between these two entities having takenplace amid bursts of enthusiasma sure omenthat that gust of fraternity shall sweep awaythe secular mutual hatred and rancor of ourclasses everlastingly at loggerheads with oneanother,--promises well for the resurgence of a rein-stated, sound, and great country. It matters notwhether the discussions sustained within the Nation-al Congress of Merchants deviated from the pathof order, sometimes degenerating in disputes ; neitherare the momentary despondency of some nor theoverflowing lyricisms of others of any account;it is of no consequence either that at times mayhave been forgotten the parable which I took theliberty of referring to you on the occasion ofanother banquet, and that the Congress should

[46]


53/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYhave been lavish of its generosity proffering advicein excess of what was asked for. . . .Apropos of this, as the Congress perhaps forthis reason has found it necessary to extend itssessions over another week, it might not now beamiss to open a parenthesis in order to repeat theparableas repetition always helps to fortify thememory or to convincenot however without firstquoting the words of Jesus Christ: "He who hathears let him hear," and those others of eloquentpopular wisdom: "To the quick of understandinglittle need be said".

"Satan was criticizing Godsays the parablefor having created advice, that impertinentpersonage indiscreet and obstinate, which is of noearthly use and makes the faithful servants ofGod the laughing stock of others. Make no con-fusion and rememberanswered the Holy Spiritthat I created the advice that is asked for andthou the one that is proffered".

Closing the parenthesis, and with all dueapologies, I shall proceed .... I was saying, inshort, that neither the disorder occasioned by the

[47]


54/182


55/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYof the country than six months of commercial cor-respondence.

I likewise congratulate myself upon havingbrought you in contact with the President of theRepublic, who has shaken hands with you withhis charasteristic frankness. I firmly believe thatthe Government would gain immensely throughoutthe whole country, if all the inhabitants were tobecome acquainted with him as you have been. Ithink that it would gain a great deal abroad too,if at least they knew over there that Mr. Carranzahad a human figure. This reminds me of a certainanecdote:An American in New York was seeking infor-mation on Mexico from a foreigner, who likemany others, had suffered from the consequencesof the Revolution. Speaking of the men of theRevolution the American asked:"Who is general Zapata?""A bandit chief," answered the foreigner."And general Villa?""Another bandit chief"."And general so and so?"

[49]


56/182

ALBER TO J . PANI"Another bandit chief"."And general this and general that?""Other bandit chiefs"."And general Carranza?""Oh! he is the First Chief!"Yes, Gentlemen, during the struggle he was the

Chief of many patriots and of many bandits too,because armed revolutions are made with arnjiesthat kill and destroy and not with choirs of arch-angels. And now, as President of the Republic,he is the Chief of many functionaries, employeesand servants of the Nation, both honest and pa-triotic, and he may also be the Chief of certainbandits, because the work of moralization cannotbe accomplished as by magic in an instant.

But Mr. Carranza professes the theory, con-stantly corroborated by the history of humanity,that social institutions can only be durable andprosperous when supported upon bases of thestrictest morality. That is the reason why the firstsubject included in the programme which the Gov-ernment submitted to the consideration of theCongress of Merchants, refers to the moralization

[50]


57/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYof the merchant. That is also why the irresistiblestrength of character of Mr. Carranza resisted allthe calamities entailed by the struggle, like a niassof granit, like an immovable mountain; and histriumph signifies the political purification of therevolutionary organism, which is the necessarypreparation and beginningas I have stated onanother occasionof the moral purification whichthe present Government most zealously pursues.

I therefore drink, Gentlemen, that the sparksproduced by the contacts which I have had thegood fortune to bring about, may kindle a new sunof fraternity and justice to shine upon and givewarmth and life to the enfeebled people of Mexico.

Chapultepec RestaurantJuly the 30th. 1917.

[51


58/182


59/182

THE MEXICAN POPULAR UNIVERSITYA toast proposed at the banquet

given by the delegates to the FirstNational Congress of Merchants.


60/182


61/182

As on a former occasion, Gentlemen, to-day alsohave I been requested by the President of theRepublic to convey to you his very warm thanksfor your kind invitation together with his deepregret at his inability to attend this banquet. Onhis behalf also I wish to express the interest withwhich this high Functionary has followed theintelligent and patriotic work of the First Nation-al Congress of Merchants; and his well groundedhopes that your labours will in a very near futurematerialize in positive benefits to the country; andhis earnest wishes for the good health and pros-perity of each and all of you.On my own behalf likewise do I beg you to

accept my sincere thanks and congratulations:and I take the liberty of devoting a few words

[55]


62/182

ALBERTO J. PANIbefore partingto a fact, which though in itselfmay seem insignificant, I must not allow to passby unnoticed, because it specially commands mygratitude while at the same time does you greathonour: I refer to the financial assistance whichsome of the Delegates to the First National Con-gress of Merchants have rendered the worthyMexican Popular University.That Institution, as all of you are aware, came

into existence shortly before the Military Uprisingof the "Citadel," nurtured with the warmth of thehealthy and juvenile enthusiasm of the Athenaeumof Mexico. Its extraordinary vitalitywhich re-sisted the demolishing assaults of the most de-structive and sanguinary Revolution recorded inour historyis the mechanic resultant of twoforces; that of the sublime ideal of its progenitorand that of an heroic abnegation, a veritableapostleship courageously and perseveringly exer-cised by its Rector and a small group of men whosucceeded in keeping aglow the sacred fire of theProfessorial Staff enlightening many consciencesclouded by ignorancein the midst of the dan-

[56]


63/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYgers, hardships and calamities of the general ca-tastrophe.My heartfelt love of the Mexican Popular Uni-

versity is due to the following circumstances:I was, unworthily withal, a member of the Athe-naeum and the first Rector of the University. Inthis connection I must needs own candidly that Iwas but a passive member of the Athenaeum; buton the other hand, in my capacity as Rector of theUniversity, I feel proud of having done somethingto its benefit, perhaps the only thing, but verygreat and very good, namely having resigned theRectorship and placed it in the competent anddisinterested hands of Dr. Alfonso Pruneda.

Moreover I am fervently in love with the idealof culture pursued by the Institution, which more-over I regard as revolutionary,in the propersense of the wordbecause it aims, with its per-severing and wise teachings at raising the moraland intellectual standard of the proletariat, withoutwhich, the economic bettermentwhich the latterjustifiably demands^might in certain cases proveuseless or injurious.

[57]


64/182

ALBER TO J . PANIFor all these reasons, Gentlemen, the financial

aid to which I have referred, commands my grat-itude and does honour to those who tendered it.

I drink then. Gentlemen, to the Delegates to theFirst National Congress of Merchants, who, asbenefactors of the Mexican Popular University,have deserved well of their Country and of Hu-manity.

San Angel Inn,August 5th, 1917.

[58]


65/182

THE INDUSTRIALDEMOCRATIC POLICY

Address ofwelcome to the Delegatesof the First National Congress ofIndustrials.


66/182

f


67/182

Mr. President,Gentlemen of the Congress,Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is barely four months ago that, from thisvery platform and under these same vaults andin circumstances very similar to the present ones,I had the honour, of addressing in the name ofthe Government, the Delegates from the nationaland foreign Chambers of Commerceassembledsolemnly to inaugurate the work of the First Na-tional Congress of Merchantsand during thatvery short lapse of time, we have witnessedwith joyful astonishment the vigorous movementof cooperative organization developed by the Bo-dy Commercial throughout the Country, witha view to regulating not only the relations be-tween the respective Chambers already or that

[61]


68/182

ALBER TO J . PANImay hereafter be established, for their ownbenefit, but also the relations which should bindthese institutions to the Government for the gener-al benefit of the Nation. It is that the propellingforce of this movementthe only one capableof opposing the dissolvent and awful effects ofanarchyhas been patriotism further encouragedby the directors of the movement. It has beenconscious, because it has known how to har-monize private, or class interests, with those of thecommunity, and lofty, because it has been ablemorally to solve the conflicts of fictitious orreal antagonism between both, and adjust itselfnot with resigned submission but with frank goodwillto the ethical hierarchy of interests whichalways places those of the public over those of theindividual. Behold, for example, that group ofaltruists, detailed from the Congress of Merchants,and known by the name of ^^the committee on corn"unselfishly collaborating with the Government inthe work of mercy of feeding the hungry, if notprecisely in the archaic charitable form which humiliates and debases, certainly in the modern and

[62]


69/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYmore efficacious form of economic competition,which stimulates activities and invigorates andvictoriously combats criminal speculation, with aview to lowering the price of corn and placini^ itwithin reach of the destitute.What better opportunity to recall these things

than the occasion of the opening of the First Na-tional Congress of Industrials? Indeed it isthrough the patriotic work of the merchants, nowcontinued by the industrials, that one is betterable to obtain a glimpse of the possibility of afuture vigorous resurgence of the Countryinspite of all the calamities that surround us andall the obstacles opposing us from within and fromwithoutfilling in the fathomless abysses of bloodand tears which divide our society, by persever-ingly endeavouring to bring all in touch with oneanother and forge the closest bonds of union,fellowship and love.

In fact, after the long and painful via cru-cis of its class struggles its wounds still bleeding,and in a state of almost complete exhaustion,the Country, precisely when its reconstruction is

[63]


70/182

ALBER TO J . PANIabout to begin, that is, the restoration of all thematerial and moral wellbeing lost in the latestrife, and the cure of its disease of economicand social constitution, revealed by the durationand fury of the struggles just mentioned, theCountry, I say, labouring under such difficultinternal conditions, furthermore feels its situationnow extraordinarily aggravated by the inevitableconsequences of the present universal conflagra-tion.The broad road which the patriotism of the

merchants has opened to the effective cooperationof the people with the Government, principallywhen the first act of friendly solidarity betweenNational Industry and the Government is takingplacesince commerce is but one of the manifoldforms of industrial activity and many industrials,therefore, are likewise merchantsoffers an occa-sion the most propitious for us to make at least abrief, yet sincere, examination of conscience, withthe purpose and the certaintysince you, gentle-men, are the worthy continuators of the patrioticwork begun by the merchantsof being able to

[64]


71/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYregulate our conduct both present and future forthe good of the Country, even at the cost of ourown individual welfare. What sacrifice would beshirked in view of the assurance of saving theCountry from a near and imminent danger and ofendowing it with a greater general prosperity?

As an everlasting reproach to mankind, thecruelty of man towards his fellow beings is one ofthe characteristics which most distinguishes himfrom all other superior animals. While the latter,indeed, give such beautiful proofs of solidaritybetween the individual members of each species,manwhose worst enemy has ever been manhimselfin view of the insuperable difficul-ties of adaptation, in relation to his primitive ru-dimentary equipment, found not the least embar-rassment in resorting to murder and anthropophagy.

Whether humanity had its originaccording tothe Biblein a sin committed through love in

[65] 4


72/182

ALBER TO J . PANIParadise, or whether intelligence, in its naturalevolutive process, passing on to a superior stateviz: that of man in his primitive state with regardto that of the animalhas carried with it the germof wickedness, the fact is that egoism and rapacity,combined in a purely utilitarian criterion, havebeen the most powerful motives of the conduct ofmankind. Hence it is that industrial progressparticularly agricultural progresswhile allowingthe activities of the vanquished to be turned tothe best account for the benefit of the conquerors,should have contrived that the latter domesticatethe formeras was done with beasts of burdenand that their total extermination and anthropoph-agy should have been substituted by slavery. Thefirst flashes of libertywhich has the virtueof rendering labour more productivemade theirappearance with servitude. The gradual smoothen-ing of uses and customs and rightthe functionsof which, as we all know, "consist in adapting manto the social medium in which he lives, fixing hisconditions of co-existence,"are derived from thesame source. The iniquitous parasitic relations

[66]


73/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYbetween the oppressing minority and the oppressedmajorities begot, through the stubborn resistanceof the social classes, the democratic ideal whichembodies the holy aspirations of human dignity.

But the lines in which humanity has most ad-vanced, naturally, are those marked by materialinterests. Thus it is that in the moral order, al-though there be an immeasurable distance betweenprimitive systematic anthropophagy and the pre-sent philanthropy of some, modern civilization,from the sermon of the mountain, that is, duringthe lapse of almost two thousand years, has strivento impregnate the spirit of man with Christianism,and the most civilized nations of the world arenow engaged in a war without precedent, wherein,in order to exterminate one another, they makeuse of all the material and technical resources ofa portentous industrial progress, without havingpity even on women or passengers on trasatlanticsteamersabsolutely foreign to the conflictandit is even said that human corpses are made useof for industrial purposes.

In the political order, the history of every nationhas undertaken to write, in letters of blood and

[67]


74/182

ALBER TO J . PANIfire, the bare-faced apothegm: power was made tobe abused. Indeed, government whichaccording toSpencer "was born of aggrression and for aggres-sion," initiated by the despotic military rulewhich is the worst and most odious of allknown forms of governmentby means of bru-tal struggles which have torn to pieces theentrails of humanity, has passed through the theo-c r a t i c and aristocratic regimenswith theplausible purpose of making an ever increasingportion of the people participants of public powerand thereby reducing the number of the despoileduntil it has attained an apparently democracticform. I say apparently democratic, because per-haps Switzerland alone exceptedwhere propertyis relatively well distributed, a third part ofthe total number of inhabitants being indus-trials, the latter in some places amounting toeven 75%, and where the irritating spectaclemay not be witnessed of "a certain class of idlerich who muddle the minds of, and with theirarrogant display of wealth humiliate, those whowork and suffer"the countries who most boast

[68]


75/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYof having best realized their political evolution,have not got beyond a kind of plutocracy, more orless corrupted by professional proliticians, leechesthat suck the blood of the Treasury and corrodesocial institutions.

In brief, industrial progress, wherein egoismhas played so important a part and which hasbeen the result of the struggle between man andnature with a view to better and more amply tosatisfy the primary necessities of life and manyadditional ones originated by the formergiventhe infinite extensibility of human necessitiesand of the instinctive tendency to economize effortsdirected to that purposesince effort implieslabourhas contributed successive modificationsto the social organization, in the manners andcustoms, and in right, according as it has mademan on earth more adaptable and thus broughtabout world evolution.

If therefore the perfecting of humanity in everyorder of its material and spiritual activities is acondition of the evolution of industry; if the for-midable war wherein are implicated the most

[60]


76/182

ALBER TO J . PANIcivilized countries of the worldwhere nationsare bent on annihilating other nations, sweepingaway the lives of men and destroying wealthaccumulated by years of labour of many genera-tionsmerely reveals an imperfect adaptation ofthose countries on earth; if our chronic intestinestruggleswhere brothers strive to annihilate theirbrothers, sweeping away lives and destroying wealthaccumulated by years of labour of their own ances-torsare symptomatic of an even more imperfectadaptation; what other consideration couldbetter enhance the exceptionally extraordinary im-portance of the celebr^ition of a Congress of In-dustrials at this supreme moment of national life?Thus then, the satisfactory solution to the in-

ternal and external difficulties which hinder therestoration of the Country, its invigoration and itsultimate free and evolutive development, whateverbe its attitude towards the European conflict andwhatever also be the result of that conflict, willconsiderably depend on its industrial activity.Allow me to repeat it. Gentlemen, the salvationof the Country is almost in your own hands ....

[70]


77/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACY

On its part the present Government of the Re-public as the legitimate offspring of a revolutionwhich holds, among its most lofty aspirations todeserve the glory of being the last to stainwith blood and devastate the mother Countryso that future generations may recognize itssanctity and canonize it amid blessingsborn ofan armed aggression, for this is the fataldestiny of countries barely initiated in the diffi-culties of political evolution, but conscious of theduty which its primogeniture imposes upon it, farfrom intending to abuse power and to commit ag-gressions, called upon the merchants yesterday, itcalls upon the industrials to-day, and tomorrowand the day after it will call upon all the otheractive classes of the community, that they mayparticipate in the functions of the public admi-nistration, the proper discharge of which bears sogreatly upon its prosperity.No one will dare to deny that such democratic

tendencies carried, if it were possible, to the[71]


78/182

ALBER TO J . P AN Icomplete blending of the Government with the so-cial mass, would necessarily produce the perfectcoordination of all national interests.

In order that the task of the Government todemocratize society may reach its full developmentand turn the Country into a Paradise, or at least,not sadly to lose the fruits of the attempts that arebeing made in this direction, it is urgentpressingly and immediately urgentto proceed tocorrect our defective economic constitution,which is barely but the existence only of rich andpoor, with its opposite extremes of parasitic opu-lence and mendicant poverty. It is therefore nec-essary to bring these troublesome extremes to-gether by moralizing the upper classes, building abridge of an autonomous middle class and better-ing the material conditions of the lower classes.The inappellable sentence of the Redeemer of

mankind, that it is easier for a camel to pass[72]


79/182


80/182


81/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYto lay down this problem rationally and patrioti-cally in order that our activities be not lamentablyconsumed by absurd empiricisms or bastard polit-ical expediencies.Naturebeing blind and therefore perhaps not

susceptible of falling into wicked temptationsnever deviates from the lines of least resistance, thatis, from the lines which mark the directions whereinthe expense of energy is minimum in relation to theyield; such is generally its process, immutable,active, determined and limited to the particularcase in question in the industrial history of all thecountries of the world. Everybody knows nomatter how ignorant-that every scientific discov-ery, every improvement in the implements in thesystem of work, in transportation, etc. has pointedout new lines of least resistance to human effort,whichnotwithstanding the transitory disturban-ces consequent on all reforms or change of directionand the energetic protests of created interestshavealways satisfied, by a more abundant and cheaperproduction, a greater number of necessities and in-creased general well-being. Now as these industrial

[75]


82/182


83/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYlocalizing the lines of least resistance in the generalexploitation of the Country and to directing all itsproductive activities along the same channel to-wards a greater national prosperity; and,

Second: partially or totally to eliminate the in-terior or exterior economic concurrence, in orderto promote, by means of privileges, certain nation-al industries, or by means of tariffs, those exoticindustries which only can prosper within the incu-bator of official protection, would be equivalentto halting the material progress of the Country,and with the high prices consequent on everymonopoly and the injustice of favouring a few atthe expense of all the rest, general uneasinesswould become considerably intensified.We may therefore say, in brief, that the secur-

ing, extracting and transforming the natural prod-ucts of our soil and free national and internationaleconomic concurrence are the two principal termsof the formula of our industrial policy.

[77]


84/182

ALBER TO J . PANI

But. . . . it may be objectedonce peace hasbeen restored in Europe, if those countries whichare most intimately connected with ours from acommercial point of view, should persist in theirtraditional protectionist policy, would not the dia-metrically opposed tendency of the precedingformula produce a contrary effect? No, a thousandtimes, no.

Those countries will then find themselves in thenecessityas we are nowof speedily and effi-caciously repairing the tremendous aggregate offorces whereof the war has ruthlessly deprivedtheir industrial progress, and for them that ne-cessity will be the greater and more imperative, be-cause after all, our Country was already poornotwithstanding its marvellous potentialityandeven if during the recent intestine troubles it hadconsumed all it possessed, its total loss of materialvalues would barely represent an infinitesimalfraction of what any of those other countries hassuffered. Moreover, as the present armed war

[78]


85/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYwill indefectibly be followed by a commercial warand the only possibility of a real expansion ofcommerce will be furnished by a cheap and abun-dant production, that is, industrial activity follow-ing the lines of least resistance and subject to freeeconomic concurrence, there are more than abun-dant reasons for presuming that the powerfulintellectual movement in favour of free trade car-ried on by the above named countries before thewar, will, on the advent of peace, crystalize intotangible and definite facts, and that humanitywill be redeemed by the material and moral ben-efits of a rational greographic distribution oflabour over the whole world.

But should this not happen, should the coun-tries who were formerly protectionists, throughone of those inexplicable political compromises,maintain their former attitude of open rebellionagainst the inexorable laws of nature, on theiraccount rather than ours, should we regret theevils that such a mistake might cause. It is notamiss here to recall the case of England:

In 1844, John Lewis Ricardo defined the freetrade policy thus: "To free commerce from every

[79]


86/182

ALBERTO J . PAN I" hampering restriction, without any heed to the" customs duties which foreign governments may" deem it expedient to lay on English goods." Twoyears after the corn laws were repealed; in 1851the tariff was expurgated of 1,100 customs itemsand, since 1862, only tobacco, tea, coffee, cocoa,alcohol, wine and sugar, are dutiable articles, theduty being small and not considered protective butfiscal, owing to these commodities not being produc-ed in England.What was the result of such a policy? The

English, trading principally with protectionistcountriessince in the old Continent Belgium andthe Netherlands alone, and in the new, nonefollowed their examplewere able to obtain themaximum of benefit from scientific discove-ries as applied to industry and from improve-ments on transportation; and, notwithstandingthat wages reached their topmost price in Europeit must be noticed that then took place the mir-acle of the parity of nominal and actual wagesforeign custom houses were incapable of checkingthe sweeping onrush of the English commercialtorrent.

[80]


87/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYGranted it may be saidbut England is anold Country and industrially very much advanced.

Would the same thing happen with Mexico?The authority of Yves Guyot in this matter ban-ishes all doubt:

"Protection in the case of new nations would beequivalent to laying a burden on the shoulders ofa child so as to permit him to struggle with anadult.""What of budding industries? These must,

above all, provide themselves with tools and im-plements; would you have them pay dearer forthem? Would you dare tax raw material?""New countries suffer much more by protection

than old ones as illustrated by an example givenby J. Novicov/, in 1894: "Belgium possessed 115" kilometers of railroads for every 10,000 square" kilometers of territory, while Russia only had"6. In Belgium no new ones need be constructed."Russia needs 200,000 kilometers of, new lines." At the rate of 100,000 francs per kilometer there" results a total of twenty thousand million" francs. The benefit to Russia now, owing to its

[SI]


88/182

ALBER TO /. PANI" Government, represents 20 per cent, or be it four" thousand million francs. Wherefore, with free"trade, Russia would be able to build 200,000" kilometers for the amount required to build" 160,000 kilometers; a difference equal to its to-" tal present railroad system."

"For the same reason, with duties on iron andsteel, the United States have overcharged theirtools and implements by thousands of millions, tothe benefit of the siderurgical trusts, and atthe expense of the entire nation. ..."

Whence it is, that the only means of takingbudding or protected industries in new countriesout of their swaddling clothes, is free trade.

The exposition of the democratic industrialpolicy would be incomplete should I not devote atleast a few words to the thorny subject of the ever-lasting conflicts between capital and labour.The form in which these conflicts present them-

selves and are solvedfrequently aggravated by[82]


89/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYthe immoderate egoism of the classes interestedis the thermometer that best reveals the prevailingregimen of a people, at a given epoch; the despo-liation of the workmen by their employerswiththe aid of the authoritiesin oligarchies, to theextent of converting human beings into mere im-plements of labour, the replacing whereof costsnothing; or the despoliation of the employer bythe workmenalso with the aid of the authoritiesin disorganized or demagogic democracies, tothe extent of rendering the progress of industrialwork an impossibility.

In a well organized democracy neither of thesetwo things can or should happen. If the industrialproduction or service which answers the impera-tive necessities of the community, requires, as an.indispensable condition, the conjunction of thefactors called capital and labour, it is ob-vious that the supreme obligation of the Stateto afford protection and guaranteesit being therepresentative and guardian of the common inter-ests of the people should tend constantly tomaintain all the productive or working force of

[83]


90/182

ALBER TO J . PANIthat duality, that is, to prevent that the latter bedisturbed, unbalanced or destroyed by officialfavour bestowed alone on one of its two constituentfactors.

Whence we may deduce that neither the em-ployer nor the working massit being inten-ded to signify by the latter expresion eitherthe entire body of workmen or that portionthereof that may perceptibly be influencial in thepublic production or service in questionhas theright of paralising or reducing this production orservice unjustifiably and to the appreciable injuryof the community, and that therefore in the rela-tive cases of paralization or reduction of indus-trial activity, the State has the imperative duty ofintervening, in a manner the best fitted, in orderto prevent or to repair the damages caused to pub-lic interests.

I cannot resist the very just temptation, whichat this moment assails me, of pointing out twospots that shine forth brightly in the midst of theshadows projected by our natural atmosphere ofdisorganization. The one concerns the cotton mill

[84]


91/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYowners who maintain their industrial establishmentsin activity, notwithstanding the losses they mustsurely have suffered by the decree that abolishedthe old duties on importation of cloths.The other refers to a group of railroad men

whoassembled in a recent conventionthusanswered in a manner both simple and patrioticthe slanderous accusation of intending to "walkout" for the purpose of obtaining an increase ofsalary: "We are convinced of the prevailing eco-" nomic situation of the Country and we are not" the ones uselessly to aggravate it with any claims."

The Government, through me, warmly congrat-ulates both the former and the latter, and truststhat all the industrials and all the workmenthroughout the Country will follow such edifyingexamples.

Gentlemen of the Congress: I have taken the libertyon welcoming you on

behalf of the Governmentto embody into a wholethe relative ideas emitted by the President of the

[85]


92/182

ALBER TO J. PANIRepublic in his conversations, his toasts and hisspeeches, that they may be recorded in the minutesof the First Meeting of the Congress of Industrialsas the expression of the Carranza doctrine onthe industrial democratic policyconvinced thatyour love of Country and of humanity will findmeans of building solidly, on the firm foundationof this doctrine, the majestic edifice of national re-constructiipn.Mexico, D. F., November 17th. 1917.

[86]


93/182

THE CONSTITUTIONAL PATHStatementsmade at the banquet giv-

en by the Secretary of Industry andCommerce to the Delegates to theFirst National Congress of Indus-trials.


94/182


95/182

This is not a toast nor anything like it. In frontof each seat a card has been placed clearly statingthat "there will he no toasts" and I am cer-tainly very far from intending to violate thisinjunction. I merely wish to monopolizethe talking for a few momentssince the Code of-Friendship sanctions this kind of monopolyin order to make a few statements in connectionwith certain incidents that occurred at the FirstGeneral Meeting of the Congress of Industrials,and if I stand up and raise my voiceinterrupt-ing after-dinner talkit is only with the objectthat my words may be heard by all.The discussions at that meeting hinged almost

exclusively on the two following points:[89]


96/182

ALBER TO J . P AN IFirst: The necessity of knowing whether the

Delegates would enjoy the necessary guaranteesfor the free utterance of their ideas, with the objectof (second) proceeding to the immediate study ofcertain amendments to the Federal Political Con-stitution, to serve as a basis and starting point forthe subsequent work of the Congress.As the delegates that initiated those discussionstook it upon themselves at the same time to attackthe Constitution, the Authors thereof and, as faras I understand, also the Government, and not-withstanding, they have afforded us the pleasureof now sitting at table with us, I need make noeffort to try and prove that the Congress of In-dustrialesas happened with that of the Mer-chantsenjoys every guarantee under the law.

In order to pass upon the relevancy or irrele-vancy of the second point, it will suffice to bear inmind that the Government, in view of the trans-cendental and pressing problems connected withthe distressing conditions under which the countryand none the less industry, are labouring, andgiven on the other hand the unquestionable re-

[90]


97/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYlations of causality which bind both together,invited the industrials earnestly to cooperatein the study of these problems, that is, of thecoordination of activities, the direction of all for-ces towards one same point in order that theymay all be added togetherand not substractedfrom each otherand may thus produce the re-sultant of greatest national well-being. The factof the industrials having so willingly acceptedthis invitation, signifies, therefore, their readi-ness to add their forces to those of the Government,practically directing the work of the Congresstowards ends possibly realizable either imme-diately or in the near future and in perfect har-mony with the present political conditions of thecountry.But concerning the relative effects of cooperation

with the Government, what are those politicalconditions that mark, so to speak, the limits offeasibility of the resolutions of the Congress ofIndustrials? We all know that the Constitutionof 1917 has been written with the blood shed bythe Mexican people in the recent struggle avenge-

[911


98/182


99/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYgress refusing their lights and activities to relievethe pressing necessities of the Country and of In-dustry, thereby sadly defrauding the hopes of theGovernment and of their constituents.

But I have the firm conviction that such willnot be the case. I am not discouraged by themistaken direction of the preliminary discussions,as neither was I by the disorder and mistrustwith which the Congress of Merchants started ontheir work. The success of the First NationalCongress of Industrials, wholly guaranteed by thegood sense and the love of country and of huma-nity of all of its memberswill place me in aposition to render favourable reports to the Presi-dent of the Republic on the delicate commissionentrusted to me to initiate and develop the policyof democratizing society, totally new in our longhistory of disturbances, commotions and assaults.San Angel Inn, D. F.,November 26th, 1917.

:93]


100/182


101/182

OUR DEMOCRATIC INITIATIONToast proposed by Eng. Alberto J.

Pani, Secretarj' of Industry and Com-merce, at the banquet given by theDelegates to the President of the Republic and the said Secretary of In-dustry and Commerce.


102/182


103/182

GentlemenAt the last banquetwhich it was my privilege

to offer youconformably to the maxim that"might was made to be abused" I forbade toastsnotwithstanding which I myself proposed one. Atto day's banquet as power is not vested in me butin your worthy selves, in order to reply to Mr. Hen-kel I must needs first beg leave to do so.

This being granted, as is evidenced by youiflatteringly loud applause I take the liberty of pro-ceeding.The President of the Republic when conferring

upon me the distinguished honor of representinghim on this occasion, specially requested me to

[97]


104/182

ALBERTO J . P AN Iconvey to you his cordial greetings and sincereappreciation of ygur courtesy in offering him thisbanquet. I shall transmit to him with all fidelity,my memory permitting, the timely remarks on theindustrial problem of Mexico made by Mr. Henkelin his capacity as President of the First NationalCongress of Industrials, and I know that the Pre-sident will value them in all their worth.For my part, my gratitude has been profoundly

increased towards both each one of you and thehost of national and foreign industrials whom yourepresent, because the mere celebration of theCongress and the enthusiastic zeal wherewith itswork is being developed are unquestionable evi-dence of the healthy and vigorous growth of ourincipient democracy.

Although I am not nor ever have been a politi-cian, but have always felt repugnance ratherthan sympathy for that craft, I have allowedmyself to be involved in the turbulent waves ofpolitics, without yet knowing for certain whetherI should attribute it to a conscious obedience ofthe voice of patriotismthe conditions of the[98]


105/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYCountry being so distressing as to impose thisobligation upon every citizenor to the uncon-scious and blind obedience to the mandates of thestrange destiny of my life. This doubt assails mewhen I recall the immense number of circunstancesimpossible to have foreseen which have constantlyturned my steps away from the path which my fancyor my purpose had already marked out. Indeed,following perhaps a natural inclination inheritedfrom my grandparentsboth of whom werephysiciansI started on my professional studieswith a truly juvenile enthusiasm, in the NationalSchool of Medicine; and I know not why orwherefore I graduated as an Engineer and afterthat. ... I have had to practise on a great manyoccasions, as a Lawyer, Professor, or Architect....I was precisely making some daring architecturalstunts, when the revolution of 1910transformedinto Government by the first popular electionsfreely carried out in this Countrylanded meunexpectedly in the Subsecretaryship of PublicInstruction and Fine Arts. Thus from surprise onsurprise, and most assuredly from blunder on

[99]


106/182

ALBERTO J . PAN Ito blunder, because I have always trodden pathsunkno\ATi to me, I have laboriously wadedthrough the General Management of PublicWorks, the General Treasury of the Nation, theGeneral Management of the Railroads, and a verydelicate and important diplomatic mission, until Iwas laden with and now carry on my shouldersthe heavy burdennot because of the aggregateof activities required for its discharge, but rath-er of the nature of the latter and the responsibil-ities therein involvedthe heavy burden I say,of the Department of Industry and Commerce,probably because I ought to be classed amongthose of the revolutionaries of this last epoch, wholeast have devoted themselves to the pursuit ofcommercial and industrial c(g)rafts.

If therefore I were to take the teachings of thepast as a basis logically to deduce what mysituation ought to be to-morrow, I would hax.e toconclude that Fate has in store for me preciselythat for which I am least qualified; and prudencethen should counsel me to reinforce my cloudyknowledge of the Bible and to begin to turn my

[100]


107/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYeyes in the direction of the Cathedral befittinglyto take possession of it in a near future investedwith the elevated and venerable dignity of Arch-bishop of Mexico. . . .

Fate, with its cruel mockery, constantly thwart-ing my bents and inclinations and driving me onto the thorny fields of politics, where personallyI have only been able to reap unjustifiableenmities and untold bitternesshas done me onthe other hand the benefit of leaving me one solereligious worship thfit of truthwhichdoes not admit of euphemisms of speech norhypocricy of conductand of habituating me wil-lingly to consult the best informed according as Ihave met insuperable difficulties. This is the prin-cipal reason for the gratitude I feel towards a Con-gress who openly expresswhatever be the ultimateresult of their workthe firm resolve of one ofthe most socially and economically influencialclasses in the life of the Nation, to help in the studyof the numerous and complex problems which areto be dilucidated in the Department under mycharge.

[101]


108/182

ALBERTO J . PAN IThere is yet still more. Without being a profes-

sional politicianas, I have just statedI am asincere democrat and know full well that in orderto constitute a real democracy, neither the exerciseof popular suffrage, because an unconscions or crim-inal demagogy may lead the people away fromtheir own interestsas in effect has happened onnumberless occasionsnor a liberal, wise and I'ustConstitution, which the skill or the strength of a rul-er may violate with impunity, are sufficient. It isfurthermore necessary that the parasitic relationsbetween the victors and the vanquished in the politi-cal struggles should not last; that the number ofthe despoiled be reduced to the utmost possible min-imum or rather that there be no despoiled onesat all, that is, that the entire people efficientlytake part in public affairs. And if the Congressof Industrials is only able to appreciate and makethe proper use of the irresistible force of the bounty,talent and character of the present President ofthe Republic they will render the realization of thislofty ideal possible.

I therefore drink, Gentlemen, to all the Indus-trials of the Republic and to all of the Delegates

[102]


109/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYwhom they have patriotically sent us to increaseour small fund of democracy with the First Na-tional Congress of Industrials.

Restaurant of Chapultepec, D. F.,December 9th. 1917.

[103]


110/182


111/182

AN INTERESTING RESEARCHCONCERNING

POPULAR EDUCATION


112/182


113/182

Mexico, July the lotli, 1918.Mr. Carlos C. Valadez,General Manager of "The Free Municipium"

City.Dear Sir:

In reply to the open letter addressed to me andpublished by you in the 4th. number of the weekly''The Free Municipium"the organ of all theMunicipia of the Republicin the first placeI wish most sincerely to express to you mydeep appreciation of the unmerited praise of whichI am the object in your mentioned letter, as alsoof your kind invitationwhich I hold as a greathonourto cooperate in the laudable efforts ofyour weekly "to endeavour to carry out the de-mocratic task of establishing to its full scope,the Rudimentary Instruction of the illiterate." Andwith the noble purpose of carrying this into execu-

[107]


114/182

ALBER TO J . PANItion, you suggestin the impossibility of theFederation to issue laws, concerning teaching,that shall be binding on the whole Republicthatthe Republic petition the First Magistrate of theNation to "institute a Supreme Council of rudi-mentary instruction to synthesize the problem andsuggest to the HH. Municipal Councils a resolutionthereof, thus obtaining by the free will of the townsexpressed in a municipal plebiscitealready open-ed by the mentioned weekly the establishment,embodiment, systematization and support of rudi-mentary instruction in Mexico."As you request my opinion on the subject and

that I should collaborate with you towards itsrealization, I readily accept your invitation withall the enthusiasm which the fulfilment of theduties of good citicenship affords, confining myselfhowever to the modest sphere of my capac-itywhich most assuredly precludes the candi-dacy to the Presidency of the aforementionedCouncil, with which you most courteously arepleased to honour meand I proceed to answerthe four questions included in your request:

[108]


115/182

ON THE ROAD TO DEMOCRACYTwo of your questions read as follows:"Do you think possible the establishment of a

" Rudimentary Institutionuniform in its methods" and outlinesall over the Republic?""One of the most arduous details of the problem

" being the support of the Rudimentary Schools," do you not think that by resorting to the system" of farm schools the desired success would be" insured?"A categorical reply to these questions really

demands the prior solution of the problem involvedfrom its two most important standpoints: viz. thepedagogical and the economic.When I was Subsecretary of Public Instruction

in 1912, I took the liberty of making a roughsketch of the solution to this problem, deducedprecisely from the principal difficulties encoun-tered in the application of the Decree on Rudi-mentary Instructionviz. those derived from thetechnical defects of the Decree itself and the in-sufficiency of the budgetwith a view of callingthe attention of the public to the matter, and ofrousing an interest in its study so as to procuretheir cooperation. Besides the authorized opinions

[109]


116/182

ALBER TO J , PANIpublished in the press at the time, I have receivedsome eighty opinions more, sent to me spontaneouslyand gratuitously, by actual specialists on the sub-ject, or by mere amateurs, both national and foreign.I am at present engaged in extracting from andcollecting those opinionsmany of which throw agood deal of light on the real solution of the problemand, together with my original study and thereport and final conclusions to be formulated by aPedagogical Committee of acknowledged compet-ency, I shall in a near future publish a book by theexpress order of the President of the Republic.

I therefore take the liberty of postponing myanswer to the two questions referred to in yourletter, in order to send you a much more satisfac-tory reply, as coming from persons far morecompetent than myselftogether with the first copyof the book I have just mentioned.

Another of your questions is:"Do you approve of the Municipal Plebiscite

"that we have opened to investigate whether th

(1918) On the Road to Democracy (Mexican Politics)

Documents

Transcript of (1918) On the Road to Democracy (Mexican Politics)