Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1892-02-17

clergy, if they can be honored with that
name, fight all improvements They
want no railways or telegraphs, and
when DiaZ adopted a system of COM
pulsory education the war began in
earnest. Diaz was determined, how
ever, and he retaliated by closing up the
converts and prohibiting the establish
ment of monasteres.
Being further opposed in his efforts at
reform and defied by the priests, he put
hundreds of them in Puebla in Jail and
prohibited the ringing of church bells in
certain localities. He forcibly impressed
on them the fact that he was running
Mexico; not they. He gave them to un-
derstand that his idea of Christianity
was that priests should preach Christ
crucified, and not revolution and infrac-
ton of the law. II an English-speaking
Catholic thinks that the same state of
affairs exists in his country as in Mex
leo let him undeceive himself.
Different from American Priests.
In America the priests of the Catholic
church are looked up to and respected.
They admonish their fiocks to be virtu-
GUS and eschew vice, to avoid gambling
and drunkenness, and to live upright and
Cody lives. How different with Mexico.
Priests can keep mistresses with i'm
punity. From a church to a gambling
table is but step, and the priests gam
BILE with the rest. The rental of houses
of ill-fame, of gambling houses, of bull
pens all go to a church which is sup
posed to teach religion. Because Diaz,
a Catholic himself, will not tolerate such
crime under the guise of religion, he
is fought by the church, and is the re-
cipient of their anathemas.
Take the leading church in Monterey.
Outside of the cathedral you step from
the church door to a plaza, owned by
the church, and in which stands fifty
tents, in which are conducted monte,
roulette and other games of chance.
Behind this stands the bullpen, and the
profits and rentals go to the church.
With all these lights, the most plausible
inference or theory is that the Clerical
party, as they see all these privileges
being swept away, will cheerfully con-
tribute the Sinews of war with which to
carry on a revolution against Diaz.
They have Hgents in Euprope, and the
money can come through that source
without detection.
Elections.
We hear in the United States of cleo
tions in Mexico and of Diaz being re-
elected. Tie truth is, there is no such
thing as an election in the republic.
There are no booths or polling places
open, and no one votes. The ballot
boxes are distributed in few localities,
and those in charge are instructed in ad
vance how the vote must be counted
Not only does Diaz re-elect himself in
this way, but he dictates whom he de-
sires elected to all other offices in the
different states. In fact, Diaz is king.
The elections occur in April, and if there
is no trouble by that time, Mexico will
be tranquil for another four years.
That the present troubles on the bor
der have done the country much harm
is apparent. Manager Robertson, of the
and Mexican Gulf railroad,
stated that his company had arranged
to float ten millions in bonds in New
York, with which to extend the road,
which by reason of it's running into
Tampico, good seaport, is one of the
most valuable properties in Mexico.
Rather than place the money the finan-
ciers paid forfeit. There is discomfort !
and uneasiness and all lacking is the
leader, Who will he be?