Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-16

| Win the president when congress Is away
| from the national capital.
! y
/ The judiciary of Mexico also is mod
eled after that of the United States. Its
/ system OF iurspru
System of dence adheres more
| Y., or less closely to
Jurisprudence American and Eng
lish practice, though it is inflenced some
what by Spanish legal methods. The Mex
, lean courts usually keep we'll abreast
/ with their work. and as a rule litigation
| is not so long drawn out as it is in the
States Many of the judges are elected
! rather than appointed although. under
Diaz rule, 1t amounts TO practically the
same thing.
| Most of the important elections in Mex
leo arc by what is known as the indi-
rect ballot of the first degree. and it is
tsecret ballot. 1t is by such ballot that
the president and vice president are elect
ed. The fact tina; there never has been
! any serious opposition to DiaZ when he
has been candidate, and that in every
election he has been declared elected by
practically a unanimous vote. demon
strates to what extent universal suffrage
is practiced. The constitution sets forth
that every married man over eighteen
and every single man of twenty-one who
possesses an honest means of livelihood
shall have the privilege of voting in the
!
printed election returns in the yearbooks
and almanacs of Mexico. Election sta
tistics are nowhere to be found.
just as the executive. legislative and
judicial branches of the government are
modelled after the same branches in the
United States, so is the relation between
the general government and the state
governments patterned after the Amer
lean model. There are tWenty-Seven
states in the Mexican union. a federal dis
trict that corresponds to the District of
Columbia and two territories governed like
Alaska. The constitution LAYS down GER
tain interstate affairs in which the states
must not interfere, but in all other mat
tiers the state is privileged to manage
things according to its own notions. Each
state has it's own governor and other eN-
ecutive officers 1t is divided into dis
trictS corresponding to cities and counties
in the United States. and over each of
these rules a jefe politico, who combines
the roles of chief of police and mayor.
~
Theoretically. the central government
has nothing to do with the selection and
continuance in power
In Theory. of the state officials
but under President
NoI xlaCtIce. Diaz this does not work
out in practice No man Objectionable to
the administration in Mexico City stands
any show of being chosen governor. ana
if a governor develops obJectlonaoie
qualities after he is in office. there IS
little chance that he Will continue III HIS
position.
1t is almost entirely due to their obJec-
tons to such federal interference in iocai
affairs that the revolutionists OF northern
Mexico are in the field. That 1t has re-
suited in injustice in some instances
! every candid man admits. There Is ad-
mission OF it in the semi official an
nouncement that many governors and
jefe politicos will be removed: ~
A large army is maintained. and the
country districts are patrolled ny q
mounted police force known as the
rurales These men are as good riders
as our western cowboys. and make emo
less war on robbers and beggarS. Ihey
succeed splendidly in maintaining peace
and quiet in the country sections. There
is also a secret police system, mode.ed
after the French idea. These men lave
ewes and ears that seem almost omnl-
present and are considered one of the
most thorough systems of secret police
in existence.
Whatever else may be said about the
Mexican government as Diaz has made
it, no one can fail to
Eoreipners Are concede that SO far as
the foreigner is con-
tipns could not be wished for. President
Dix was far-sighted enough to under
stand that nothing would make for the
ultimate welfare of the republic so much
as a bounteous influx of foreign capital and
foreigners to direct it. So every law that
has been enacted in Mexico and every
Interpretation of the constitution that has
been made has tended to better con-
dftions for the foreigner and his capital.
In a nutshell, the constitution is
snIendd chart of human liberty. Yet to
live according to it's letter would conduce
neither to the best interests of the indi-
yidual citizen nor to those OF the nation
as a whole Diaz has seen the kind OF
government Mexico has needed, and he
has supplied it. That there have been
abuses of power in many places no one
denies That. however, has happened
frequently much closer home.
TOmOrrOw-MEX1CO.