Arizona republican., 1911-03-26
The Related Program of Reform ir
 Mexico.

The resignation or the MeAlCdH
 cabinet is the most important change
 in the government of Mexico which
 has taken place since General Por-
 firio Diaz became the ruler of that
 country more than quarter of a
 century ago.
 This radical move is, of course, not a concession to the insurrectos in
 the field. but a concession to public sentiment in the republic. While the Q number of rebels under arms is com paratively small, the number of in surrecto .sympathizers is very large. In the judgment of the best posted observers, a great majority of the people of Mexico are in sympathy with the spirit of the instruction, if not with the acts of the insur- rectos. There is a widespread demand for reforms and change"
 The reasons for this feeling are many While promoting the educa- ton of his people President Diaz has not provided outlets for the activities of an educated people so far as their government is concerned. Although the government has been a benevo- lent despotism, it has remained the same despotic government that was given to Mexico at the beginning of the Diaz rule. There has been prac- tically no recognition of the great changes which have come over pub fected Mexico as well as every other civilized nation. The movement of the whde world, Mexico included, is toward a closer control of govern ment by the people-toward the realization of democratic government The spirit of this movement has not been strongly manifest in Mexico, perhaps-certainly it has not been recognized until now by the Diaz government-but it has reached the Mexican people, nevertheless.
 In our own blessed land the streams fully, because nobody tries by force to dam them up. Absolute freedom of the press, and absolute freedom of private and public speech, afford abundant outlets for every popular emotion. Questions of the utmost gravity are passed upon at the polls. and the verdict of the majority is accepted by everybody until there can be another peaceable expression at the polls. In Mexico and in every other country in which there is not freedom of speech and freedom of the press and freedom of public as- sembly, the efforts to stem the tide of evolution and to dam the streams of peaceful revolution lead to civil war or to a spirit which is ever ripe for civil war
 Specifically, there have been many grounds of complaint in Mexico. The public domain has not been used for the creation of homes for the people, but has been used in perpetuating such feudal system as prevailed in Europe centuries ago-it is a coun- try of great haciendas and to some extent of absentee landlords--al- though in the main the hacienda sys- tenn means a resident owner who has under his control a group of peons | who work his property and get noth- ing in return beyond a mere living | The younger generation of educated | men have found little encouragement | in their natural desires to participate | in the affairs of government | General Diaz. upon his accession to the presidency. surrounded himself | with the strong men who had stood | with him in his insurrection against | President Juarez. These men he ap- pointed to places in his cabinet and to rule the states as governors. They | hoNS SAoNH oiu Mllu Hlfn Qults naturally, he preferred their company and their counsels. He did not real ize until recently that these officials. old like himself, were no longer in touch with the sentiment of modern Mexico. The country had prospered beyond his own most sanguine dreams. and he and his counselors had lifted the republic to a plane of high stand ing among the nations of the world why shouldn't everybody be satisfied? h was his reasoning. But the instruction has opened the eyes of the great and aged states