Forjando Patria: Pro-Nacionalismo

29: Of Yankee and Mexican Metalism

138 We call the United States the Country of the Dollar. Ironically, these words do not refer to the proverbial wealth of that republic but to the way of being of its inhabitants, whose goals in life we unjustly consider to be unspiritual, utilitarian , and materialist—“metallized” to the exclusion of any altruistic motive. Were other countries to qualify the United States in this way, it would still be an exaggeration. It might even be forgiven if those critics had virtues that those whom they criticize do not. But we should remember the proverb about the splinter in the neighbor’s eye, because it must be understood that we Mexicans are much more materialist and metallized than our neighbors, the Yankees. Sadder still, we are able to pile up no more than mounds of cents, whereas the children of the “country of the dollar” pile up mountains of dollars. We will try to demonstrate this, ignoring the accusations of anti-patriotism that will be applied to us by patriots with Quaternary sensibilities, by poor and backward men who would be proud of their homeland because it is the greatest producer of pulque. Given that European civilization established itself in Mexico 200 years before it did in the United States, it would be expected that our culture would be as ample and intense as those of the North Americans. But what occurs is exactly to the contrary. Whereas the United States boasts an advanced stage of culture, we1 vacillate between childhood and adolescence, or have not yet been weaned, as is the case with our many illiterates. This, like all 29 Of Yankee and Mexican Metalism 1 We refer here exclusively to the Mexican population of European origin. 139 O f Y a n k e e a n d M e x i c a n M e t a l i s m phenomena of the social order, has various and very complex causes, of which we will only mention a few. From the beginning of the Colonial period until the present day, we have never dedicated ourselves to works of culture. Rather, our activities have gone toward the satisfaction of material needs, to the vain luxury of accumulating wealth. We live behind our business, our “job”2 or the post that gives us money to feed our needs, vanity, or avarice. Our failure has been complete, since we have developed neither enviable manifestations of culture nor the wealth that one would expect given our utilitarianism and metallism. The people of the United States pursue the dollar tenaciously, forgetting all else. But once they possess it, they use a respectable proportion of it to create , sustain, and promote works for culture and for humanity. Rockefeller has earned millions upon millions of dollars by extorting the people but in exchange has transformed fifty or a hundred of those millions into a scientific institute. At the Rockefeller Institute, there is constant work to better the conditions of humanity. There, Carrel3 studies the mysteries of biology, lifesaving serums are cultivated, other scholars explore new applications for electricity or perfect new agricultural applications. There are a hundred, a thousand centers like this one in the United States. Great universities, scientific institutes, hospitals, and so forth have been created and sustained by the altruism of the hunters of the dollar, by the “metallized” people whose dryness of the soul we are so pleased to criticize. We—with the exception of one for every thousand—hoard our money. The more we make, the stingier and greedier we become. Money is spent on luxuries but never to promote the advancement of our culture or to secure our social well-being. When have our magnates disinterestedly founded schools, research institutions, art academies? Never! Is it not entirely shameful that when there was no official aid for the maintenance of schools in this capital during the Zapatista interregnum, society did not come together en masse to provide the aid that was missing? And do not think that we only fault men from wealthy backgrounds, because we all share the blame. Our lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects, and other professionals who are not exactly wealthy carry their titles like a banner 2 Quotation marks in original (“chamba”).—Trans. 3 AlexisCarrel(1873–1944),abiologistwithcontroversiallinkstotheeugenicsmove­ment .—Trans. 140 O f Y a n k e e a n d M e x i c a n M e t a...