This affirmation is not born from our enthusiasm for all that redounds to the glory of our native land. Foreign writers have not hesitated to say that the monument of Cuauhtemoc may be considered the finest in America, in its essentially American architecture and in being a work exclusively realized by Mexican artists.
It is well known that, in decreeing, in 1877, the erection of Guatematzin’s monument, the government also decreed that in the following glorietas should be erected others to the heroes of the Independence and of the Reform; and, no one doubts that, the government persevering in its plan of embellishing the finest paseo in our metropolis, this paseo will come to be a most beautiful spot, consequently most visited by both citizens and foreigners. We believe that, to the laudable efforts of the Federal Government, those of the Governors of the federative states should be united. We shall state, in what way.
In the great Paseo de la Reforma, there already exist pedestals, destined to support statues and other works of art, appropriate to a place of resort, where daily gather the most distinguished members of society; until the present, there has been no announcement regarding the statues and art works for which these pedestals are intended.
It is plain that, however great may be the willingness of the Federal Government, it will need to employ large sums and many years, in carrying out, unaided, the whole work of adornment, demanded by a paseo of the magnitude of that of the Reforma, since they must be in consonance with the artistic value of the monuments already erected and those in contemplation. What would be of slow and expensive realization for the Federal treasury, would be easy, prompt, and convenient, if each of the Mexican States should favor our plan.
However poor any one of the smallest fractions, into which the Republic is divided, may be, it is certain that it could, at no sacrifice at all, pay the