expected, often manifest qualities more easily associated with their Spanish than their Indian origin.

The high rate of illiteracy which characterizes the population of Mexico is partly cause and partly effect of the traits which have been mentioned, but to a degree which can not be measured; needless to say, it has also other causes. Between 1900 and 1910, the dates of the last two censuses, the increase in the number of persons able to read and write was a little greater than the increase in the population itself, yet the number of those unable either to read or write, although 12 years of age and over, was still in 1910 as high as 7,065,464, while 4,777,812 under 12 years of age could neither read nor write. In all, only 3,000,000 persons in a population of 15,000,000 could both read and write.

The Government of Mexico, though in form a democracy, has always been autocratic in fact. During the epoch of the Diaz administration stability of government continued long unbroken, but little effort was made as by the institution of schools to fit the population for self-government. In the decade and a half which have elapsed since the fall of the Diaz régime, Indians and mestizos have assumed a large part in political affairs. In politics and likewise in industry democratic leaders have arisen, and an active struggle is being waged by them of which the outcome can not to-day be presaged. One conclusion may be deemed certain; no effective democracy resting on universal suffrage can come quickly in a country whose population is still so retrograde as the Mexican in the essential prerequisites of democracy.

(f) Explanations-A provisional view.-Various theories have been advanced in explanation of the Mexican situation which can appropriately be referred to here, though full discussion of them must for the present be postponed. Some students lay much stress upon the view that races differ from each other qualitatively and hold that an Indian stock, however it might innocuously abide by the white man's civilization, can not itself sustain the burden of such civilization. Those who reason in this way may go so far as to maintain that if intermarriage with a superior stock takes place it must be on such a scale, with such numerical preponderance of the superior, that the inferior will in time be "bred out," and they may hold that even then the result, however invisible, will be dubious. Students, on the other hand, who stress environmental factors argue that the mechanical superiority, especially in arms and equipment, of the Spanish was such that the Aztec collapse was foredoomed, however advanced in other respects might have been the Aztec character and civilization. If to such a view it should be replied that no resiliency, no emphatic come back " of civilization was afterwards shown, or has since, during four centuries, been shown by the Indian stock, it would be pointed out that a civilization is a condition of infinite adjustments; that the shock of Spanish invasion and the ruthlessness of Spanish administration were such that only apathy could result. More explicitly it would be held by others that incapacity for self-control and development is not to be inferred from the history and condition of Mexico, but only that this history has been forced by the impetus of the Spanish conquerors and their successors into a false line of development. A freer reign given to Indian impulses, their freest expression in the life of the nation, their unquestioned dominance, since Indian blood is dominant, would disprove any views of essential incapacity. Already a Mexican archaeologist has in recent years given eloquent voice to this view.*

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After an opportunity has been had in this report to survey the situation in other countries which have race stocks resembling in many ways that of Mexico, a more positive discussion can be undertaken of these views.

2. CENTRAL AMERICA

Introductory.-In the countries of Central America stretching south from Mexico for a distance of a thousand miles, live some 5,000,000 people, or about one-third as many as in Mexico itself, The natural wealth of these countries, as of Mexico itself, is very great, and the climate of the higher portions, like that of the plateau of Mexico, has much to commend it.

The native stocks which antedated the coming of the Spaniards in most of this region had attained a less striking development than those in Mexico. The more northerly bore resemblance to the Maya Indians, the more southerly

M. Gamio, Forjando Patria, Mexico, 1916.

to the Indians characteristic of upper South America, Some were nearly wiped out by the invaders or by disease, yet of all these stocks modern representatives survive.

3. GUATEMALA

The most northerly of the Central American countries, that nearest to Mexico, is Guatemala. It is the most populous of all, an official calculation of its inhabitants made about a year ago, but not a true census, giving a total of 2,184,411. Thirty years previously, two-thirds of the population was officially assumed to be Indian, and the figures of 1923 suggest that there has been no change in the racial constitution of the country. There is undoubtedly a larger portion of full-blooded Indians than in any other of the countries of Central America.

In large part the Indians inhabit the highland towns, which have been their abodes for centuries, and they continue to hold themselves aloof from even the half-breed element more than has been usual in the other countries. The description of them which appeared in the census of 1893 is accurate enough still; "they are principally engaged in farming and in small commercial enterprises in the interior, earning with ease their livelihood, avoiding all possible overwork, following their daily passive routine, and generally showing no desire to be mixed into the general movements of the country. * * ** The Indians do not cooperate actively in the progress of civilization, neither do they resist it. Notwithstanding, they furnish all the necessary work to make the soil productive." They are docile and ignorant, commonly making no attempt to learn Spanish and rarely attending school. They drink much aguardiente, an intoxicating drink. A peonage system is intrenched, improvidence being the special base which the Indian supplies for it.

Above the Indian population is principally the mestizo, here called ladino, as in Central America generally. "By the very nature of the conquest the crossing of the European and Indian was rapidly accomplished." Just as in Mexico the crossing was always between Spanish men and Indian women. It is doubtless the fact that the mestizo tends to be associated with the white stock that leads to his being described as a "ladino." Economically this stock generally stands above the Indian, yet on those plantations where Indians are not employed the ladinos are likely to be found doing the menial work. In form the government of Guatemala is a republic; in practice it is an autocracy resting on military power. The political contests which recur are between rival upper-class factions, ladino factions. The stability of the government has much in common with that which characterized Mexico during the long presidency of Diaz; that is, it is maintained by a large use of force.

The greater part of the population is illiterate. Despite the fact that marriages take place when the parties are very young, often under twenty, the number of illegitimate births runs very high, being nearly half the total recorded; between the rates for ladinos and those for Indian, there appears to be very little difference.

Foreign immigration has avoided Guatemala. The small number of resident aliens consists chiefly of nonwhite persons who have come as temporary sojourners in furtherance of business interests.

4. SALVADOR

Salvador, though small in area, stands next to Guatemala in population. A recent official calculation, utilizing an inadequate census of 1901 and taking account of the physical increase since, and of migration-all highly imperfect data-places the number of inhabitants at 1,501,000. There are apparently still a great many pure-blooded Indians but they are a far smaller fraction of the population than are those of Guatemala. On the other hand, the people of mixed breed are relatively far more numerous, even though still predominantly Indian. This greater homogeneity of the population is apparently not without its effect on the stability of social and economic relationships. Marriages occur early; illegitimacy none the less runs very high.

5 Cenzo general, levantado en 26 de Febrero de 1893, Guatemala, 1894, pp. 39, 40. Ibid. p. 38.

5. HONDURAS-BRITISH HONDURAS

An official estimate made in 1921 placed the population of Honduras at 662,422, or 10 per cent higher than the figure reached in a rough census taken four years previously. There is a small number of white persons. Of pure blooded Indians not many are left except on the Mosquito coast. The great majority of the population are of mixed race, the Indian element preponderating in the mixture, the white coming next, but the negro being strong also-in fact, negro immigrants from other countries have in the past been so numerous that measures have been taken to restrict their further çoming. While the census figures do not indicate the proportions of the various elements in the population the annual statistics of new births show about one-quarter to be Indian or negro and three-quarters to be ladino or "of the Spanish-American race" as it has been called; but it must be remembered that the count of Indian or negro births is more liable to omissions than that of the politically dominant element. Few foreign immigrants have come to Honduras.

The general social conditions are poor. Illiteracy is common. Illegitimate births equal or exceed legitimate. The Government is unstable. The disputes which from time to time overturn the Government have their origin in the white or upper ladino section of the population, the great majority of the people taking no active part in political movements.

British Honduras had in 1921 a population of 45,317, mostly Indian and Mestizo elements; about 40 per cent of new births oi late years have been illegitimate.

6. NICARAGUA

A census taken in Nacaragua in 1921 showed a total population of 638,119, most of whom were living in the western half of the country. In a foreign contingent of 10,375, Europeans were relatively few, while peoples from neighboring countries were many. The white inhabitants, chiefly of Spanish origin, were stated to number 107,167 or about one-sixth of all, but it is doubtful if nearly so many were of unmixed blood. The mixed stock was more than twothirds of the whole. Negroes were nearly 10 per cent, pretty evenly scattered over the country. In the eastern portion live a good many negroes, immigrants chiefly from islands of the West Indies, and also many Mosquito Indians and many zambos. Indians were in 1921 nearly 5 per cent of the population and were found chiefly in four departments of the country. There has been a small fusion of Indians with negroes. The great majority of the population were regarded in 1921 as speaking Spanish; but the Mosquito Indians, despite their admixture of white and negro blood, have retained their own language, and to still others Spanish was not the accustomed language.

There is much illiteracy. Illegitimate births are a large proportion of all; the Indian stock, when pure or mixed, has never been very valuable economically. Peonage has lost the legal status it once had, but the causes which gave it form and which made it a problem still persist. As in Honduras the life of politics has been marked by pronounced factionalism.

7. COSTA RICA

Costa Rica, like Salvador, has a small area but a fairly dense population. A governmental calculation made in 1921 gave the total number of inhabitants as 476,581. Since the Indians were largely killed off in this region during the first years of the Spanish conquest, not many of pure blood are left to-day; and the Indian element in the ladino population is less than it is in the other States of Central America. The population is therefore whiter. There has been some immigration.

In Costa Rico the conditions of life are better than in the neighboring countries. Illiteracy is less, the political situation is more stable. The fact that that the people live generally on a fairly high plateau may contribute to this superior condition but their comparative racial homogeneity is the more distinctive circumstance. Illegitimate births are currently about a quarter of all.

A census taken in 1920 found a population of 446,098. Such details as are available for several provinces indicate the presence of a large negro element, a large Indian element, a white element smaller than either of these, and a

mixed element larger than all other elements together. An appreciable Oriental factor was present. Of foreigners there were many, particularly negroes from the West Indies. The available statistics show a large proportion of illiterate persons. Illegitimate births in some provinces run to more than half of all births.

9. CANAL ZONE

The census of 1912 found 71,682 persons; omitting those employed in connection with the Canal, the number was 62,810. Whites were about one-third of all, blacks were one-half of all. There was a large mixed element and a small Chinese and East Indian or Hindu element.

In the construction of the canal Europeans were a minority of the laborers employed; the largest European element consisted of Spaniards, but in 1908 the Government of Spain forbade the further coming of Spanish subjects. Negroes predominated in the work of construction, deriving almost entirely from the West Indies; from Barbados alone came 19,448; from Martinique 5,542; in all, 29,667. The efficiency of these laborers was rated low by the engineers in comparison with the efficiency of laborers brought from the United States for the performance of similar tasks.

10. SOUTH AMERICA

A large population of American Indians inhabited the continent of South America before the coming of the Europeans. There was among them much diversity of type and culture. More than 80 linguistic stocks can be identified to-day, the larger stocks occupying much the greater portion of the continent. the smaller probably representing stocks unable to withstand the pressure of the larger. With respect to culture there appear to be four principal areas, one reaching downward from Nicaragua and centering around Bogota, Colombia, another beginning on the plateau of Ecuador and reaching as far south as the Atacama desert in Chile, a third including much of present Bolivia and Chile and the stretch from the Gran Chaco to Patagonia, and the fourth the basin of the Amazon. In some regions the Indians present when the white invaders appeared were very numerous, in others, they were few; in some they were warlike and offered great resistance to European conquest, in others they yielded easily. As in Mexico and Central America, some civilizations had declined from a previous high development long before the conquest. The conquest itself was quickly followed by a fusion of Europeans with the indigenous races. Women being rare amongst those who crossed the seas, Indian women became the wives of the conquerors and the mothers of the mestizo breed. At various points negro slaves were introduced. They, too, often united with European stocks and much more rarely with the Indians; at least it was sought by drastic laws to prevent such unions and the laws were not without success. It was the new mestizo stock and the creole which finally put an end to the colonial regime and set up the new American States. The Indian element, constituting the lowest stratum of the population in the colonial period, continued to be the lowest in the period of independence, looked down upon by the mestizo as well as by the whites.

11. COLOMBIA

In point of population Colombia is one of the principal countries of South America. A census taken in 1918 gave a total population of 5,855,077, just about twice as many as were found half a century earlier (1870). The proportions of the various race elements are less clear than could be desired. Indians living in tribes, that is, uncivilized Indians, were given as 158,428; only a few years earlier, in 1912, they were given as 94,000-the increase is chiefly explained by a tripling of the numbers assigned to one territory and an ascription of 3,300 to a department where none had been rated present in 1912. Indefinite as the figures are, it is doubtless true that the so-called uncivilized Indians of Colombia are not a large fraction of the total population, though they are a large majority of the population of the particular districts in which they are most numerous.

The civilized Indians constitute the mass of the agricultural population in considerable regions and are everywhere numerous, They are simple-minded and superstitious, kind-hearted, peace-loving, and docile, also distrustful and

reticent where strangers are concerned. They have no part in politics. Civilized and uncivilized Indians together constitute nearly a fifth of the population. Along the coasts and in the valleys of the great rivers many negroes are found. They are one of the principal race elements in Colombia; when those negroes are included who are of mixed race, they are probably more numerous than the pure Indians. In two departments (Bolivar and Canoa) they are the principal element in the population. Wherever the negroes are present, mulattoes and quadroons also appear in numbers. The majority of negro stock seem to be shiftless and improvident but the mulatto seems to be rated higher than the pure negro.

Of zambos (offspring of negroes and Indians) there are many. They appear to rank lower in the social scale than either of the stocks from which they proceed.

White persons of fairly pure stock are widely scattered over the country and particularly over the interior plateaus, with a special concentration in Antiquoia. It is certain, however, that they are not nearly so numerous as is often claimed, since the mestizos are found in much the same districts as the creoles and in practice the line between them is often ignored. Whites are probably as many as a tenth of the inhabitants. In some populous districts such as Cundinamarca, the mestizo element is unquestionably preponderant and there can be little doubt that it is the largest single element in the country as a whole. Mestizos are probably twice as numerous as pure whites and pure Indians taken together. In the early days much fusion of stocks occurred. The Indians were numerous; whites were few. Intermarriage between whites and mestizos is frequent to-day. Even between whites and Indians there is no social barrier whatever and intermarriage is common.

Economically, both whites and mestizos are generally superior to the other elements in the population. The mestizos share substantially in the prevalent illiteracy at the last census more than two-thirds of the people were recorded as unable to read or write.

12. VENEZUELA

An official estimate made in 1917 placed the population of the country at 2,848,121, which was probably somewhat too high a figure. There had been no census since 1891 when a count of 2,523,527 was made. Disease and fighting doubtless were important factors in the slow growth of the population.

It is not likely that more than 10 per cent of the population are white. Mixture with the Indians has proceeded so long that the mestizo element is very large, not less than half and possibly as much as two-thirds of the whole. Indians, chiefly, and negroes make up most of the rest of the population.

The number of wild Indians is very difficult to determine. On the Colombian frontier there is a particularly powerful stock. A great many Indians, however, have abandoned warring or seminomadic lives and turned to agriculture. Between the members of this class and the white population there has been much intermarriage. As in Colombia a large population of negroes is to be found and of the offspring of negro-white and negro-Indian unions.

The elements that are dominant politically and economically are the white and the mixed; but only when the mixed has white blood, for in Venezuela as elsewhere the zambo is very low in the scale. Neither the full-blooded Indian nor the full-blooded negro rises above the level of a laborer.

13. ECUADOR

There have been official estimates of the population of Ecuador, but not much accuracy can be claimed for them. It may be that the figure of 2,000,000 can be deemed as correct as any. A quarter of a century ago 1,500,000 were estimated.

A

The class of pure whites is certainly small. It may possibly amount to 100,000. Yet it must be remembered that this stock is almost wholly Spanish in origin, that even Spaniards have not come in large numbers to Equador, and that many call themselves white who have some Indian blood. Few must have been the white women who at any time came to Ecuador. The whites and the nearly white mestizos constitute the governing class. The mestizo element probably numbers in the neighborhood of 400,000 or 500,000. Except where there is an important economic difference between white and mestizo, the two groups mingle freely. The artisan and trader classes are largely mestizo.