Mayas, the Zapotecs, the Yaquis, these are all Mexican citizens but the political bond is almost the only one that unites them. Historically, culturally, economically they have little in common that indicates that they should owe a common allegiance.
Above the native stocks are the mixed bloods who have at least the common bond of their racial connection and above these are those of European lineage, descendants of the immigrants of colonial times or of later arrivals. These two latter classes, by their adaptability and by their more intimate contact with the civilization of the outside world, are the cement of the Mexican peoples.
It is hard to secure information that will give a satisfactory picture of Mexican life because neither the government nor any private agency has ever attempted a thoroughgoing survey of economic and social conditions. [1] There has never been an accurate census of the peoples of Mexico that established even their number much less one that gives a picture of their economic and social status and organization. For the earlier years only the roughest estimates are available and for the later ones enumerations by the government must be relied upon, which, while nominally complete, have not been based upon an actual count in many parts of the republic.
The records of colonial times are more complete, in fact, than those of the first fifty years of the republic because for the estimates referring to that time the par-
- ↑ An excellent recent study in this field is Wallace Thompson, The People of Mexico, New York, 1921.
