Chapter 23: The Porfiriato - PDF

Printed by: quinn.smid!@avc:.edu. Printing is for pcil80D8l, privare uso only. No part of1his book may bci npn,dua,d or tnmsmitb:d without pabliahcr'a prior permisaion. VIOl.a1ms will be proeec:uted. CHAPTER 23...

Printed by: quinn.smid!@avc:.edu. Printing is for pcil80D8l, privare uso only. No part of1his book may bci npn,dua,d or tnmsmitb:d without pabliahcr'a prior permisaion. VIOl.a1ms will be proeec:uted. CHAPTER 23 THE PORFIRIATO Order and Progress Podirio Dfaz directed the course of the Mexican nation for a third of a century during a fascinating and vital period of the entire western world. Innovation c:haraaerized the era- in technology, political and economic systems, social values, and anistic expression. OtlO von Bismarck transformed the German sta1£S in10 a nation. William Gladstone introduced England to a new kind of liberalism. The )ea'ding powers of Europe partitioned Africa unto themselves. The United Stares emerged J a world power, and Spain lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines- the last remnants of its once-glorious empire. Russia, experienced a revolution that. though abortive. saged things to come in 1917. Pope Leo xrn enunciated Rerum Novarnm, proclaiming that employees should be treated more.is men than as tools. Thomas Hardy and Thomas Mann revolutionized the world of liaion, while Renoir and Monet did the same for an. But even in a world of profound ch)lnge. Porfirio Diaz's Mexico must be considered remarkable. ,- MEXICO IN 1'876 When Dfaz assumed control of Mexico in 1876,.,excepLin a few of the larger cities, the coun ny ~ scarcely been touched by the scient1fic, 1echnological, and industrial revolutions of die nineteenth century. While much o i;-westem Europe and !he United States had been transformed in the last fifty years, Mexico had languished, less out of inertia than because of the intermittent political chaos and ~ o nomic losses. Although the period of the restoration had pointed Mexico in a new direction, plans for change had only been partially implemented. In 1876 Dfaz inherited an empty treasury, a long list of foreign debts, and a huge bureaucratic corps whose salaries were in arrears. Mexi- co's credil rating abroad was abominable. and its politics had become somewha1 ofa joke in Europe. The value of Mexican impons consistently exceeded the value of expons, presenting a serious balance-of-payments problem and maldng it vinual ly impoisible to secure sorely needed infusions of foreign capital. The Mexican affluent, knowing lhe precarious nature of the political process, would not invest their own resources to any large degree. Because of 321 Printed by: [email protected]. Printing is for pmcma1, priva&e me only. No part of1his book may be reprodnced or transmitted without publisher's prior permisaii>n. Violatvn will be prosec:utcd.  3 22 THE MOOERN I ZATIOS OF ~l?XICO graft. ineptitude, and mismanagement, public semces languished. The mail, if it arrived at all, came inexcusably late. Mining had never really recovered from the chaotic days of the wa.rs for independence. A small number of mines operated inefficiently without benefit of technological improve- ments, and no coordinated efforts at new geological exploration had been undertaken, The economic situation of agriculture was much the same. Modern reapers and threshers and newly developed chemical fertiliz.ers remained oddities. Practically nothing had been done to improve the breeding of stock animals. When Dfaz came to the presidency the iron horse had just staned to coppete with the oxcart, the mule train, and the coach. Telegraph construction had barely begun. The dock facilities on both coasts were in sad disrepait and many of the most imponant harbors were silted with sand. Veracruz was so unsafe for shipping that som fuvored abandoning it altogether. The rurales had not yet been able to contain band\uy and rural violence. A u-e- mendously high infant monality rate testined to the lack ofJ:9odcm sanitation and health facilities even as the last quaner of the nineteenth centwybegan. Yellow fever plagued the tropical areas of the Gulf coast, panicularly in the irnmJdiate environs of Veracruz. Mexico City had a special health problem. Sinlatedin a broad valley, it was surrounded by mountains and a series of lakes, almost all of which were at a higher elevation than the city. Heavy rains invariably brought flooding. In addition to extensive property damage (floods often caused adobe walls to crumble), the waters then stagnated in low-lying areas for weeks and months, Gastroimcstinal and typhus disease frequently followed on the heels of a serious flood. Projects to provide an adequate drainage system for the city'had been pro- posed since the early colonial period. The height of the surrounding mountains, however. thwarted proposals for a foolproof system of drainage canals and dil