The San Francisco call., 1909-02-25


so usual when prestige and position
have built up a figure only to dwindle
to an ordinary looking man on close
observation. After what you have seen
of Mexico, Diaz is UP to expectations.
The sense of power and command of
men is there, inherent and impressive
at the first glance.
If you saw Porhrio Diaz in the
street or in a car you would remark
him as a man who, If he had not al
ready fought his way to a place in the
world, must have the capacity for it..
Break out of the commonplaces of such
interviews with some vital question
that arouses him, and that carved
square jaw rises and the black eyes
burn in way that suggests the Indian
fierceness of his soldier days.
He grows proud OF his years. When
/ remarked that he was II, he inter
rupted me promptly with Seventy
eight on my next birthday, which is
day after tomorrow" He owes his good
health to his Indian constitution and
simple living. His routine of life is
as severe as a MONKS. his food most
frugal. Formerly he took a horseback
ride every day; but, convinced of the
danger of a fall, he gave it up.
He is an old mana very old man
who will remain in the saddle to the
last moment, because power is his
breath of life. But he Is far too good a
Mexican ever to have had any thought
of after me the desuge." He is pa
triotic, not erotic like the hacienda
owners man Of the soil. He has
taught his army-how successfully
none can tell-that its loyalty is not
to person but to the constituted head
of the state; he has sought to make a
nation of Mexico, so ingrained with ma
tfonalism that 1t would not be dismem-
bered: to hold the friendship of the
United States and yet build up an
army which would make any attack a
forbidding task.
MEXICO STILL A CHILD
wherever he, is accused of subvert-
ting the constitution his answer is al
ways the same: Suppose you had a
son of 10 and the tailor insisted on
giving .him a mans suit of clothes.
Would you let him wear them? Or
would you put the suit away, telling
him that he could have it when he was
grown?"
American critics of one man power
in Mexico forget that they come from
a country where self government has
become second nature through CEN
turies. of training to country where
paternalism has been second nature
equally long. Americans and Mextcans
who go north across the Rio Grande
always speak of going from the re
nublfc" to the states" as If the states
were snot a republic, No American
ever makes a correction by saying that
both countries are republics. l asked
in vain for an explanation OF the dis
tfnction. It's origin may be satirical.
In all his talks in later years Don
Porfirio does not hesitate to say that
the constitution has been observed only
in form. It is evidently clear to him
that the boy is nowise ready for that
suft of mans clothes. Indeed. the
slowness OF the boys growth is prob
ably the cross of his career. Sixty per
cent of his people are still unable to
read and write.
The state of Diaz's health is a thing
to be quoted in the streets like the
price of stocks Give us four or five
years more of him." one American
said. "and 1 hope to be out /of Mexico
with my fortune" This generally
speaks the hope of everybody who is
willing to leave the bridge crossing
till he comes to it.
LINANTOUR HEADS CANDIDATES
Can Mexico exist without one man
power? Few think so. Is any one man
in sight equal to the job? Has any
other the genius and balance of Don
Porfirio? i Has Limantour? Probably
he comes the. nearest to being an all
round statesman. He is agreeable to
the great financial interests. His star
is at present in the ascendant. He no
longer misunderstanding the nature of
Don Porfirio's retirements. He waits.
Is it Corral? A weak man, all agree;
perfectly safe one to put. in train
ing" Is it Enrique Creel, late am
bassador TO washington and governor
of Chihuahua. an attractive personal
ity, broad minded and progressive, and
an excellent diplomatist, who was
withdrawn from Washington shortly