The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-24
MEXICAN PRESS
 IS FREE AT LAST Public Catches Idea of Free Speech and Broadened
 Liberty

Mexico City, July 23.-The Mexican Press is free That it should be was one of the many things promised by Madero, and local publishers did not wait for him to be formally elected before be- ginning to exercise their newly acquired right.
 Their assumption, however, was Justi- fled. Emilio Vasquez Gomez. minister of the department of the interior, was not slow in publicly assuring the newspaper owners that they could publish whatever they liked.
 "The government is sure that the lib- erty of the press is the best way to ob- tain the efficient help of all newspapers so to realize completely the ideas of the present government" he said in a public statement on the subject.
 That this unrestricted expression is stimulating has already been demon strated; whether it will prove intoxicat- ing remains to be seen. Since the advent of AIadero a dozen new periodicals have been born, and as many more are said to be projected. Lack of advertising doubtless will force many of these young sters into their graves for the only reason apparent for their being in some instances is that some one wishes medium of pub lie expression.
 Most of the new periodicals are small
 magazines the majority devoted to the publication of satirical verse and prose. illustrated wlAh caricatures. No one Is
 spared by the writers and artist, but as Is natural, the most stinging-and some
 times vicious-work is reserved for those individuals who were connected with the
 old regime. Among the weekly periodicals
 iss 'EbAhuizote," a publication resurrected.
 This magazine first appeared years ago, but because of it's cartoons of Limantour and other public men, was suppressed | The daily newspapers give most lively evidence of this Freedom" "El Impar. cial,' paper which has always been pro. government has inserted under its head | the words "Diario Independence" and | independent 1t is. It publishes news anc comment regardless of how 1t will be | reished by Madero and his friends, fol | whom 1t pretends no love.
 The public has also caught the spirit of free speech, and almost all the pa. | pers publish columns of comment fur. | nished by readers. Most of it is signed | by the writer's own names. In this com. | ment, and in the editorial columns the political questions are freely discussed Madero Is criticised as well as praised ] and those who would like to see another chosen for the presidency, do not hes. 1 itate to say so.
 News which never would have been re. 1nx nF .- published under seven-column heads and | in 10-point type. The capital now, too | has its yellow press" On the whole the people appear to welcome the change. "Were freen appears to be the un- spoken idea in the minds of thousands of the poorer people of the capital and perhaps furnishes the explanation of scores of curious sights to which the old resident has not become accustomed. It Is not uncommon to see hundreds of men, women and children-and not all of them peons-wandering about on the
 grass of the Alameda during a band con-
 cert. In the day of Diaz none ever trod
 that grass with impunity.
 Notwithstanding signs that warn the
 public not to ascend the platform of the
 famous monument to Juarez. the snowy
 marble columns are not infrequently
 black with hundreds of ragged men and
 children gathered there to hear a band or to witness a parade in the street. For
 time taking a prisoner away from a
 policeman was a. favorite amusement, but
 this diversion has been checked almost
 altogether, but not yet does an officer
 of the law insist upon doing his duty
 without seeing an expression of surprise
 on the faces of the ragged populace. They
 are free and to learn that there are yet restrictions is disconcerting