Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/55

Rh the failure of the dictator to take effective steps to create either a governing class that could fight out within itself the national policies, or a popular educational system that would prepare the people as a whole for self-government was a signal failure of the government he created.

Under the old dictatorship Mexico drifted on into the twentieth century, into a century in which the changes that had come in her national life and her shortcomings both stood out in sharp relief. It was a new economic Mexico with railroads, telegraphs, newspapers, and an increasing number of foreigners, all of which brought enlightenment through touch with the outside world. But among the advantages that had come from the new day, ability in self-government was not numbered. Economic improvements had been introduced from abroad and had become a vital part of Mexican life. But the political training of the people was given no attention.

In the actual problems of ruling themselves, the rough give and take of political contests properly so called, the Mexican at the winning of independence was still fairly comparable to the Mexican of the conquest. He had seen the light, wanted to follow the ideals that republicanism and self-government stood for in other countries, but he was almost totally inexperienced. To say that in the interval between independence and the beginning of the twentieth century the Mexican had made no advance in self-government would be unfair but it is true that he had not markedly improved his position. Republicanism and self-government had come