The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-20

revolution. and so with every name
mentioned.
The day before the nomination the
conferrees were no nearer decision.
They sat up late at night, still discuss
ing, until, at last, long after mid
night, one of them declared:
1T 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 would be ruined
if he retired from the business Of be-
nevolent despot.
Diaz is the hero of the Mexican army.
When he was a young soldier. the
Hero of Puebla," was the most adj
mired and popular officer in the patriot
army that fought the French invaders.
He was always the first in the charge,
the last in retreat, the quickest to vol
unteer for the post of danger. 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.
Throughout his career Diaz has paid
great attention to the welfare of the
Mexican army. He often visits the sol
diers Unexpectedly 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 and looking after
their men properly.
Thus it is that the Mexican army
is the best in Latin America, not even
excepting the Prussianized troops of
Chilli 1t is mainly composed of full
blooded Indians, who are readily dis
ciplined and as brave as any men could
be. Foreign officers say they are sec
ond to no other troops as marchers and
fighters, and in frugality and content
ment they are far ahead of most of the
worlds soldiers. Diaz is proud of
them, and they look upon him almost
as a god.
Napoleon could never do enough for
the veterans who fought with him in
his first campaigns. HE was one of
my old grumblers in Egypt" he would
say affectionately, when rewardng
some grizzled, battle-scarred warrior.
So it is with Diaz. The men who
fought with him against Macmillan
and the French are the men whom he
delights to honor. He will go to the
greatest personal trouble to seek them
| out and to see that they want for moth
ing within his power to give them.
Sometimes his officials In Mexico City
require his presence urgently to de-
eide a kuotty point or sign some inn
| portant papers. What has become of
| the President to-day?" 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. I'M
mediately the President has dropped
everything and gone off to see her and
to arrange for her future. He would
never delegate such a task to a subor-
dinate.
or perhaps, it may be the case Of
a veteran who fought by his side at
Puebla, and 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.
In many ways Diaz is a curious puz-
zle 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 suppressed
| many instructions with an iron hand,
yet he sympathizes with the perennial
revolutions which distract Latin
| America, alternately amusing ana QlS-
gushing the people of higher and more
! orderly civilizations.
"Up North" he remarked to an
| American visitor recently, you do not
understand the evil conditions which
prevail in those countries, and the
need which exists for armed protest
against them. am still revolution
list at heart, because / believe in prog
ress. In Latin America revolution is
the spirit Of progress, the spirit of re-
! sistance to evil.
"It was through a bloody military
revolution that Mexico found herself
on the road to advancement, and 1t is
owing entirely to the Industrial revo-
| luton now going on, to the disgust of
many conservative people, that prog
ress is being made.
without frequent, persistent revo-
buttons the political question Of Span
ish-America would be insoluble, and
80 Spanish American people would
| lapse into the conditions which pre-
vailed in Europe during the Middle
Ages"
The magnitude of the work perform
ed by Diaz in Mexico is we'll known,
but few foreigners know anything of
the man himself. Even in Mexico he
Is regarded as a kind of sphinx. Per-
haps these few anecdotes Of his life
and character will give a clearer idea
of the man behind the works, and ex-
plain how II is that a mere, despised
Oaxaca Indian has become "the great
est ruler of our age" to use Tolstoi's
words.