The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-20
Diaz, the Beloved President Of Mexico
His Stern Sense of Justice
and His Incorruptible
Honesty Have Created
Unbound ed Conf
dence in Him-H i $
Curious View of Rev
olutions.

retire. II am an old man and rich man.,
he told his Cabinet Il am tired of power
10 travel and see foreign countries before L
die. 1t is time took rest and enjoyed the
evening of my days as choose
His colleagues admitted the reasonable
ness of his wishes and said they really
would find a successor. Day after day.
evening after evening, they conferred;
name after name was suggested-but all IN
would rule unwisely, that other man would
provoke a revolution and so with every
The day before the nomination the con-
ferees were no nearer a decision. They
sat up late at night, still discussing, until,
at last. long after midnight, one of them
declared:
''It must be Diaz again While he rules.
Mexico will be safe and happy, But after
that-Quien Sabe?
So they broke up the conference, trooped
over to the palace, woke Diaz out of his
sleep, and sat up with him until the gray
dawn, persuading him that his country
ness of benevolent despot-
Diaz is the hero of the Mexican army.
When he was a young soldier the Hero
of Puebla'' was the most admired and pop
ular officer in the patriot army that fought
the French invaders He was always the
first in the charge. the last in retreat, the
ger. He held his own life as nothing in
comparison with the cause. Yet no officer
was more careful of the lives and comfort
OF his men.
CHERISHES THE ARMY.
Throughout his career Diaz has paid great
attention to the welfare of the Mexican
army. He often visits the soldiers unex-
pectedly in their camps and barracks.
tastes their food. finds out whether they
are regularly paid and well treated. and
whether the officers are doing their duty
Thus IL is that the Mexican army is the
best in Latin-America, not even excepting
the Prussianized troops of Chill. 1t is main
" composed of fuIl-blooded Indians who
are readily disciplined and as brave as any
men could be. Foreign officers say they are
second TO no other troops marchers and
fighters. and in frugality and contentment
they are far ahead of most of the worlds
soldiers. Diaz is proud Of them, and they
look upon him almost as god.
Napoleon could never do enough for the
veterans who fought with him in his first
campaigns. He was one of my old grum-
blers," he would say affectionately, when
rewarding some grizzled, battle-scarred
warrior. So it is with DiaZ. The men who
the French are the men whom he delights
to honor. He will go to the greatest per-
sonal trouble to seek them out and to see
that they want for nothing within his
po1Cl TO give them.
Sometimes his officials in Mexico City re-
quire his presence urgently to decide
pers. what has become Of the President
today" they ask one another excitedly.
The answer is always much the same.
He has heard of an old woman, hun
dred miles away, whose husband was killed
fighting for the independence of Mexico.
She is living in poverty. Immediately the
President has dropped everything and gone
off to see her and to arrange for her fu-
ture. He would never delegate such task
to a subordinate.
Or. perhaps. it may be the case of a vet
arc rh, for roraf nv ic "a do ut md
who has fallen on evil days in his old age.
If so, Diaz will see that he does not want
again. His private charities in this way
are boundlesS, and they are always per-
formed with the greatest secrecy.
UPHOLDS REVOLUTION.
In many ways Diaz is a curious puzzle.
He is an autocrat of the deepest dye. yet
his political views and acts are decidedly
liberal. He is simply an autocrat because
he has to be, unless he wishes to see HIS
country go to rack and ruin. He has sup
pressed many instructions with an iron
hand. yet he sympathizes with the perennial
revolutions which distract Latin America
alternately amusing and disgusting the peo-
pie OF higher and more orderly civiliza-
tons.
up North" he remarked to an American
visitor recently you do not understand the
evil conditions which prevail in those coun-
tries, and the need which exists for armed
protest against them. l am still revolu-
ZIONIST at heart, because / believe in prog
ress. In Latin America revolution is the
spirit of progress, the spirit of resistance to
evil
1T was through bloody military revolu-
ton that Mexico found herself on the road
| to advancement, and it is owing entirely to
| the industrial revolution now going on, to
| the disgust of many conservative people,
| that progress is being made.
without frequent, persistent revolu-
| tions the political question of Spanish-Amer-
| lea would be insoluble, and the Spanish
| American people would lapse into the condi-
| tions which prevailed in Europe during the
Middle Ages
| The magnitude of the work performed by
| Diaz in Mexico is well known, but few for
| eigners know anything of the man himself.
| Even in Mexico he is regarded as a kind of
sphinx. Perhaps these few anecdotes of his
/ life and character will give clearer idea of
| the man behind the works, and explain how
| Ii is that mere despised Oaxaca Indian
| has become 'the greatest ruler of our age"
1 TO Tolstois words.
| JUAN OTALORA.
| Copyright, 1903, by T. c. McClure.l