Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/82

64 system. It was to be expected that when the old régime came to be called to account the office of the men who governed in the locality but were not subject to its will would be one of the points of attack. The revolution promised to do away with the jefe politico and to set up the free municipality.

The new system of local government that it is sought to introduce starts out under far from favorable conditions. The political inertia of the local population in the great majority of municipalities is a heavy handicap. Centralization is such a well established tradition, acquiescence in a government imposed from above has gone on so long, that it will be difficult to arouse the cities and towns into a vigorous life. A steady and uniform advance in municipal government is too much to expect.

No one who walks through the streets of a Mexican town off the line of the great trunk railroads can be enthusiastic as to the prospects of success of real local government in the immediate future. There will probably be many backslidings and the standard, which the enthusiasts of the present reforming government speak for, will not be achieved in their day nor in that of their grandchildren. But, whatever their errors in other directions, there will be little doubt in the minds of most of Mexico's friends that the revolutionary statesmen are standing on bed rock when they insist upon the importance of creating a keen interest in local government and the problems associated therewith.

The municipalities are the first school of government. Within these units, involving such simple problems as