Page:Travels in Mexico and life among the Mexicans.djvu/312

304 They printed in the aggregate 378,096 copies, with a total circulation of 46,778,858 copies. Of these, there are two in the English language, "The Two Republics," owned and ably edited by Mr. J. Mastella Clarke, and "The Mexican Financier," a weekly bilingual journal, founded by a New York gentleman, and conducted by young Boston journalists of great promise and ability.

Religion and politics, and sometimes education, often go hand in hand, so it will not seem a wide departure from the subject to mention that politicians, even statesmen, are in rather bad odor in what is called "society" in Mexico. And this society, like the blood of the people composing it, is decidedly mixed, although the Creoles and those of Spanish birth, and especially those loyal to the Church, are its leaders. It is not considered a reproach to be looked down upon by society, for each grade of this heterogeneous people has led it by the nose,—even the Indian, when Juarez was President. President Gonzalez is said to have Indian blood in his veins, and Diaz, the great power behind the throne, and which he fain would constantly occupy, is likewise a Mestizo. The politicians, however, like Romero, Mariscal, and a small host of other famous Mexicans, comprise the more advanced scholars of the country.