The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1900-09-28
PRESIDENT DIAZ.
His Great Work in the Development
of Mexico in a Few Years.

From the city OF Mexico Herald.
1t is astonishing what pulling power
a locomotive has. In sixteen years 1t
has hauled Mexico, plunged in creole
proVinCialism, its dream Interrupted
by occasional cannon shot, up to the
higher plane of wide international ac-
tivities. Mexico. the prehistoric Next
co that Porfirio Diaz found, has gone
forever Old men and some clerical
newspapers humble their protest and
lament the past. which was pictur-
esque but incredibly backward. on the
whole, the change is better for Mexico,
which is now part of the great family
of nations.
Mexico now has a national credit
and an addition to its legitimate stock
of self-respect. This statesman, Por-
tirio Diaz, is something of a compound
locomtiye himself. We have seen him
tugging at the inertia of Mexico
welded to the past, trying 10 pull it
over a steep upgrade. That was back
in 1885, when the credit of the nation
was nil, when the treasury was empty
and employees We're lucky if they got
their pay at postponed dates. We
heard men standing idly In their
counting rooms predicting that the big
Diaz locomotive would blow up. plunge
down an embankment Of revolution,
&c.
Mighty few were the capitalists here
who then, in dark days, stood by the
President Of Mexico. IHe knows that:
he can count over the roll Of the pessi-
mists, of the hidden critics, of the pro-
phets of despair But he kept on pull
ing for all he was worth and that was
much, as we can attest. He worked
| sixteen, eighteen, twenty-tour hours q
day; mis- courage never failed him, ana
! lucky II was for Mexico that he had a
constitution hardened in many cam
paigns, a man of iron and fire.
POrGrio Diaz believed in steam ani
| iron; his creed was a locomotive: he
was ready to give charters for rail-
ways, he welcomed with glad hand the
men of positive force. lie surrounded
| himself with big-braiued, hearty, res
olute men. And they all pulled to-
| gether. So this statesman Of locomo-
tives, this keen-eyed, undaunted be-
! lever in what they could do for MeN!-
! co is Vindicated. He sees Mexico pros
porous and progressive; men every
where believe in him; he is going to be
| president four years more, and he
| looks over the broad land, and, dis
| cerning everywhere factory chimneys,
| and noting the trailing white banners
| of hundreds on hundreds Of locomo-
| tlves, he feels sure that his work has
been for his country's good,
Some petty critics affect to depre-
ciatc the Mexican president they
would crltice a Napoleon reconstruct
ing French institutions, a Bismarck
making an empire out of petty duchie'
and prlncipallties. If we had known
! Porfro Diaz when the skies were al
! black, when he was in poverty, max
ing a nation, when malignity buzzed
about him, and he toiled like another
! Hercules, we might believe some OF
| the talk of the little critics. But hav-
ing regarded the work of the man whc
| let locomotives loose over the face Of
would criticize a Napoleon reconstruct
Mexico, we have no patience left tc
listen to weaklings, who could not live
here and make money if the president
had not transformed Mexico and made
it place for healthful activities.