Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1888-05-04
MEXICO'S STATE PALACE.
a VAST AMOUNT OF POMP AND
CIRCUMSTANCE OF WAR.
Place Where the Business of the
Government is Transacted-HalI
of Ambassadors-Pre DiaZ.

a SOIu1ST Win a HuSkCG SItUtlS dI Tie
entrance TO the National Palace, writes a
GJObe- Denocr0t correspondent OF the City
of Mexico. A rack of guns IS on either
side of the passageway. The first open
door letding from the passage shows a
guard room, in which soldiers are loung-
ing on two benches INSIDE and upstairs
are more soldiers. The man VINO takes
your card In 70 President Diaz's Score
tary is in uniform.
The show Of soldiery is one of the Gus
toms handed down to the AfexI an Re
public. lust as the name Palacio Nacional
was inherited from the imperial past.
The presence of the soldieTy Is a form
which doesn't frighten, and a stretch Of
the Imagination is necessary TO make a
palace out of this large and exceedingly
plain building, constructed III the form
of night angles, with about half a dozen
open court Yards. A two story front,
with well ironed windows for the ground
floor and long balcony above. Inside
are the staircases and covered corridors
and a wilderness of rooms of varying
sizes, where the business of the Mexican
government is transacted.
The Mexican President is easily APP
preached. His offices are in one corner
of the palace, and there he grants
''audiences," as they are called, between
three ana six p. VI. every day, except
Wednesdays. Visitors leave their cards
with the adjutant Of the palace one day,
and the next day they are received.
These receptions are different from those
at the White House. The custom OF
forming in line and marching by the
President for hurried hand shake has
not yet obtained an introduction in the
land of the .Aztecs. Nor does the visitor
stand up with twenty or thirty others
around the walls of the chamber and
wait while the President moves along
the line, giving each few moments.
President Diaz sits at his table or
stands, as the mood prompts, courteous
ly listening and replying, without any
thing in his manner or surroundings to
lnsinuate the propriety of cutting it
short. He is man of plain, straightfor-
ward speech, agreeable to Americans
and apparently pleased with the interest
taken in his country by travellers. Diaz
is statesman. as we'll as the foremost
soldier of Mexico. The members of the
Cabinet are not allowed to forget that
there is a President. Within a week
General DiaZ has reversed a decision of
Pacheco, one of his Ministers, involving
a large land grant. He is the strong
man Of Mexico.
The National Palace is in the heart of
the city. 1t is built on ground which
fell to the lot of COrteZ when the Span
iards captured the city III 1929, and
there for many years Extraordinarily
two centuries-the vice kings of Spain
had their residences.
The present building was in part con-
200 years ago, and has been /
added to several times, until now the 7
whole structure, with its half a dozen T
courtyards, spreads over ground equal to
perhaps ten of the average city squares. /
The main front is 100 feet long and faces /
a paved plaza, where every morning the .
troops IN the city appear for inspection. /
Across the paved plaza Is a pretty little
park with numerous trees and flower
beds about great fountain, and beyond
the little park, which is called the Zocalo,
is ano her plaza, on which all the street
car lines of the city have their starting
points.
In the National Palace are, in addition
to the office of the President, TIE State,
Treasury, Army, Navy and POst-otfice
the Senate, the Astronomi- /
cai and Meteorological Bureau, and in
the rear the barracks, with accOmmoda-
tions for three or four regiments. A
general of the army has charge of the
garrison and of the palace. Guard
and patrolling are kept up
with military regularity in the corridors.
The general bears the title of Governor
Of the Palace.
This Capitalization of the government
business under one roof seems like an
upon Washington, where
one travels miles between the various
There is a popularity
about the rules of the National Palace
which is beyond American cOmprehen-
sion. If you have occasion to cali upon
the Minister of Justice and
Public Instruction, or the bluff old Sec
-etary of War and Marine, General Pedro
Hinojosa, or the Secretary of Public
Works, Colonization, Industry and Com
nerce, the manned PachecO, you must go
o the Palace between seven A. NJ. and
5wO p. NJ. If your business is with the
of the Interior, Romeo Rubio,
he father-in-law of President Diaz, and
he Machiavelli of Mexico, you will find
hat his office hours are from six p NJ. to
Eight p. NJ. SENIOR Rubio is something
If an all-nighter. The early bird never
,atcheS him. Dublan, the Secretary of
he Treasury, and the greatest financier
hat Mexico has ever had, is in from
line \. NJ. to one p. NJ. and from three
,. NJ. to six p. VI.
The most remarkable apartment in the
National Palace is the Hall of the Am