The Real Mexican Border Problem

100 years ago ribbonHundreds of Mexican residents of the United States have been turned into bandits by treatment received at the hands of Americans. And when these hombres sneak back across the Boundary to burn and steal, it is in retaliation for the wrongs they have endured. It is common practice in the Lower Valley to hire Mexican desperadoes to frighten the legitimate Mexican ranchers and farmers with threats of death unless they leave the United States. When the unfortunate Mexicans are properly scared by these bandits, along come the American plotters with an offer to buy their stock at bargain-sale figures. Naturally the despoiled natives are bitter when they awake later to full knowledge of the trick. So they put their heads together to get even with the gringos — to do some pillaging on their own account — and we have another “raid.”

—“Jouncing Uncle Sam” by George Pattullo, May 19, 1917

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Click here to read the entire original article, “Jouncing Uncle Sam,” from the the May 19, 1917, issue of the Post.

This article is featured in the May/June 2017 issue of The Saturday Evening Post. Subscribe to the magazine for more art, inspiring stories, fiction, humor, and features from our archives.