The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-10-08
MEXIC0'S GREAT RULER.
THINGS PRESIDENT PORFTRIO DIAB
mas 4CHIETED


A Wonderful Career That Began In Back
woods Village Hts Work as n SOL
dier and n Regeneration of
Mexico Present state of the Republic.
The arithmetic has SO overwhelming majority
in its following that II would doubtless he unwss
To question H. Yet one may sometimes be par
doncd for silent incredibly, Subtractng 1880
from 1899 one gets 60; yet few PERSONS could see
President poririo Diaz OF Mexico, without running
over the figures again 10 make sure there is no
mistake 1t seems incredible that he should he
on the verge Of three score and ten Yet he was
born in 1880 appropriately enough on the eve
Of the birthday ~ Mexican independence Sept
10 \ man of ~. with speech as compelling.
capllarcs as free eyes as esglc clear, as Por-
lro Diaz is to he cnvied
\ strangely romantic mixture, surely, ia the
career Of this sOldicry figure who has wrought
such miracles in Mexico An orphan nobody
in a backwoods corner Of Mexico; a callow theo-
logue: n green law student. earning his way
through little Mexican Institute ciriI. a boy mayor
Of an Indian hamlet, whccdling his aboriginal
constituents into drilling for fun and then drilling
them for business enough 10 capture the capital
OF the State when an usurper held II; guerrilla
chief in the wasting wars of the Rcforma. when
stolid. stubborn. sound but tactless Juarez was
trying u put the Church between fences and keep
II there, the Sheridan and Grant in one through
that unequal war in which Mexico protested
against the usurpation Of Napoleon. political
opponent at last of the friend and patron the great
lndian President. and FOR nineteen years himself
President OF the country he first gave fair title TO
call itself republic; a field officer as dashing
Funs IN. and uf as phenomenal exploits, but in
fifty battles man as self made as our rail split
ter here is certainly enough material for a hero.
with n good deal ut tho Napnlronc in sight
sL-rn L.. -.
ness, or that certain atrophy Of humanity which
marked Napoleon Daz is always human.
always of that untranslatabc quality his people
call sim pdtico for which we have no nearer ap
pronch than winning and magnetic A cool
egoist might have whipped tn, armies Of Max.
imilian but he never could have fused Mexico
int" the nation il is today. and il is doubtful IL
he could even have made the record in war.
II is always TO he remembered ms a sheer historic
truth that no man ever before on any considerable
scale conquered disciplined armies with so small
and so unlocked an array OF poems. Lexington
Is not parallel nor any other battle wherein the
recruits were Americans. Diaz won his
campaigns with material al which the most san
guine Of American frontier campaigners would
simply gasp And while the Mexican rural
is fighter Of serious accountability, there wero
no rnrdieS till Diaz made them out Of next 10
nothing. 4 man is Judged in and state
craft by the material with which he has 10 wok
as well as by the gross result In relatively
modern history the only parallels Of Daz's mill
tary career are furnished by Cortez and Pzarro
Splendid as personal herosm is, il is also luckily
for humanity. uncommon 1t is significant
here particularly because without il and the direct
hero worship II aroused DiaI very certainly could
not have done his larger work. The man who led
so many fororn hopes against superior numi ers.
discipline and arms; who was brevcttcd with
many scars; no could not only plan conf licated
campaign but win inch by inch at The head Of his
tatterdemaions; who spiked the enemy S battery
with his own hands, in the heat Of the battle; who
served his own guns when the last gunner had
his people as well by his personal in fghng as by
the endless ingenuity and the inspration by which
he deceived OF shattered the enemy that sort of
man. among any men who love red blood
and steady hand, can ge, listeners after the fg hi
when he speaks quietly 10 citizens telling them
10 come
Twenty years ago, Mexico was byword among
with brigandage, corrupt in local politics. re-
n m"ie En4sHn unsafe
Diaz not only crushed revolution and weeded
out corruption in Office and cured the thieves
and wiped out those that were not; he also fetched
into Mexico the largest railroad building that
has been seen since our transcontinental lines.
and supplemented them with the telegraph and
| a very good postal service. He slaughte tho
tiped manufactures by an enormous figure
through iudlcous legislation, turned the balance
s s m to Ie h1eh and
began 10 make prisons good lie greatly en-
arged colleges and from the medieval suppress.
sion OF women 10 domestic ignorance, SubN erted
that whole mmemorial fabric and began flor
the first time on a large scale, in any Spanish
~omens educntion Long before he became a
national figure he established girls school in
| lie can get modern and practical education
| Above all he is the father OF the public school
in Mexico; system TO which he gives not only tho
due turn OF the reins but his earnest person al
| There is not village in Mexico. even in the re
mote Indian districts which has not IFS free public
turning out yearly a little army of earnest aud
pretty well equipped teachers for these schools
all are taking rank in Mexico which no one will
diSSparase who fairly knows the facts
hesr ay in mcnr lion bd1en ea
patriot They are, 10 speak genercally, and only
| Of proportions large enough 10 count in history,
DiaA Mexico had taste Of all Of them before at
times aud nv unsatislyng bites. but now they
are on the regular bill flare
\ factor no, to be forgotten in the estimate Of
this great success Is the present SenoTa Diaz, tho
years OF stress leaving him three children. In
1888 hr remarked. taking Carmen Rubio tho
daughter Of an old 1ppontn,. then not twenty, but
already woman Of the Iarest charms Not ono
Of ten in Mexico would know who la Sonora Diaz
might be; every one in Mexico old enough to talk
man, woman or child Indian or mestizp knows
and rrvereS aud loves "Carmelita" with devotion
rs deep as II is patriarchal Beautiful, gracious.
highly educated. not alone the actual charities 10
which she devOtcs So much time, money and hard
work, but her every relationship, have endeaT-d
her To- her nation. II will be a fairly wise his
torian who shall be able To say how much Of Mex
lean progress has been due To this lovely per-
sonaty, winning hearts for the strong man al
the helm
Mexico 10 day is about as Unconditional as New
England The most offensive tourist can 60
anywhere with as much safety as in found in this
mortal sphere He can say things that would
get him knocked down in any New England vii.
age, and wear manners such never saw.
II is quietly amusing 10 thOS' who have any real
knowledge 81 the country when he ascribes his
safety TO the fact that Mexico is despoism: that
DiaZ is car. and the little LDiicdS at tho
his spies. and that no one dares be bad Tho
great secret ~ now that no one seriously wishes
10 The idea that the country is military camp.
or clos" corporation OF the drspot. or nursery
Of spies and passports is So grOtrSQuely false
that thoS" who entertain il arr proper fOrwHrders
Of our gaiety Mexico IL pretty thoroughly gov.
crned, hut absolutely without trace Of tTsarism.
Th" hard hand" used when need was to
throttle brigandagr and revolution and upIin
willful wallowng But the machinery is aston
shingly simple and small and untyrannous as