Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/739

 REVIEWS 715

are insensible to moral suffering, and physical suffering pains them but little, and pleasures give them little joy. Venereal disease and abortion render the women of the group refractory to motherhood ; paternity is impossible on account of the promiscuity in which they live ; these two natural springs of aitruism destroyed, they are indifferent to humane sentiments and egoistic in the animal fashion.

Everywhere they may be seen, the repulsive feature of our streets. In speaking they reveal a dwarfed intelligence, as sadly ruined by their life as is their body. Their ideas are rudimentary notions derived from the common talk of the streets, comments on public events the escape of one criminal, the sentence of another, the deportation of their companions, the capture of some " crook." They are godless, with feeble superstition regarding the saints depicted on their scapulars or the medal of the rosary, which they wear beneath their filthy shirt. Their number is enormous ; they constitute the dregs of the laboring classes, and their presence betrays the vortices of vice, where the outcasts of civilization are dragged down. (Pp. 158-60.)

In the same way the whole fabric of Mexican society is analyzed. The author's characterization of foreign residents is interesting and, on the whole, little flattering. Curiously, while for the Americans whom he daily meets in Mexico he has little respect, Guerrero's admiration for our nation is high.

In the books dealing with "Atavisms" and "Creeds" many of the ills and bad conditions in Mexico are referred to these sources. From a dreadful list of cruel deeds by Mexicans it is deduced that the cruel nature of the old Aztecs is reasserting itself. From survivals of old pagan belief and practice within the Catholic church a similar atavism is claimed in religion. The church itself is blamed for much of present conditions. The results, political and social, of the half-century of almost constant revolution in Mexico are vigorously presented. All of this is done, from the point of view of description, in a masterly way, and everywhere one feels the intense earnestness and sincerity of the author. But everywhere one feels that events are referred to but par- tial causes, and that no great principles or laws are found. The book is full of suggestions and food for thought. It fails to group matter systematically. It is a series of brilliant essays, not a complete develop- ment of a problem. It sketches conditions, but points out no reme- dies. It is not absolutely pessimistic, but it touches on pessimism. If Mexicans are what they are from the simple action of the simple causes presented, the case is hopeless. If the climate makes them gamblers, if the topography involves non-government, if the Indian foundation means cruelty and superstition, all these faults will remain, because the