Page:Mexico's dilemma.djvu/145

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RISING OR SETTING SUN IN MEXICO
121

the government's forces. The army of dead men is so great that this form of graft is considered as contraband of the revolution.

Generals are not the only ones who are becoming millionaires, measured in pesos. In Pachuca, the largest silver and gold mining city in the world to-day, one government official recently deposited, through an American firm, seventy-five thousand dollars in a New York City bank during seven months. Besides, he purchased considerable property in the capital. The government and the foreigners were sure that this man is dishonest; but his method of grafting could not be discovered.

In Monterey a nephew of one of the highest officials in the government offered local merchants a proposition of importing articles from the United States free of high import duties, provided they would pay him from fifty to seventy per cent of these duties for his work, which consisted in getting the goods across the international border.

Fifteen years ago there thrived in Mexico City what was known as the Thieves' Market. Property stolen by maids, pickpockets, house servants and others was placed on sale every Sunday morning; and Mexicans and foreigners went there in search of missing articles and bargains. It was easier to obtain them in this shop than to start criminal investigations.

Though the Thieves' Market is still doing business, it has competition now in the antique shops and curio stores. The revolution has turned many