The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-03-29
| WASHINGTON GOSSIP
Interesting Talks of Prominent
Men from Different Localities.
"The retirement of President Diaz's

LUG retirement VI fT0Slu0uL DldZ
cabinet marks the beginning Of the
end of the Diaz regime in Mexico"
said R. S. Barrett, for twelve years
editor Of the Mexico Record. ut is
the first sign of disintegration which
will not stop, l believe, until a sue
cessor to Diaz has been chosen, or
the United States intervenes. There
are but two ways of settling the trou-
BILE in Mexico, in my opinion. One
is through the succession to the pres
idency Of a man strong enough to
become a dictator, as Diaz was for
many years, and the other is through
Intervention by the United States.
Mexico is a republic only in
name. The fact that eighty-three per
cent of the voters are illiterate, I'M
able to read or write, makes it i'm
possible to hold an election that is
anything but farce. Diaz has die
tated the choosing of the men who
have held Office in Mexico ever since
he has been president. 1t could not
have been otherwise. In the last
election I saw in Mexico officers of
the government distribute ballot box
es In different parts of the country,
wherever they found convenient
place, whether in saloon or post
Office, and the voters would pick up
ballot lying beside the box and de-
post it. Inasmuch as there was new
er but one candidate for an office
the casting of the ballots was only a
matter of form.
There was no other way to do
and the regime of President Diaz has
been as fruitful of prosperity fol-
Mexico as that of any man could have
been. But Diaz is an old man, and
though physically active, he has not
the dominant power over his subordi-
mates that he once had. This is the
reason he cannot send his army
against the insurrectos in sufficient
force to put down the rebellion. The
whole country is honeycombed with
sedition, and Diaz must protect his
own territory, else there is no tell.
ing but that some Of his closest ad,
visers would rise against him.
II look for the recall of Bernardo
Reyes, former minister of war, WHIT
has spent the last year in Paris. Il
was Reyes who opposed Diaz in thu
ELECTION, and was sent to Paris wher
he failed. Diaz, however, appreciate,
the strength of Reyes, and in thi.
emergency, 1 believe, he will call up
on his former minister for assist
ance.
ut is my guess that If Diaz has
successor soon it will be Reyes, To-
he is undoubtedly the only man il
Mexico who is strong enough to gov
ern Mexico with an iron hand-to be
come dictator. This, indeed, il
what the Mexican people want an,
what they need, for, with so large
percentage of people who are no
qualified by education to vote,
country must of necessity be ruled b,
rod Of iron.
"The insurrectionists, because o
their method of fighting and thei
impregnable positions in the noun
tains, could keep up the revolution
for long time. although they ar
; not organized, are badly differed, AM
are without commissary. Thei
strength has been variously estimat
ed, but the best figures l could oh
tain was that they number probabl
; 5000, while in the federal army Their
are about 10000 men. l do not be
lieve the Japanese question had any
thing to do with the mobilization o
our troops on the border. Their
have been as high as 10000 Japanes
in Mexico, but in recent months tn
number has greatly reduced"
"Aeroplane flying will be NOR
popular sport this season than eve
before, and it will be patronized b
greater number Of persons" sal
Roy Knabenshue of Dayton, who wa
one of the first to take up flying il
, a dirigible. "The fact that the fea
Of flying has been greatly diminish
ed among persons who would nc
; have entertained the thought of gc
ing into the air few years ago, vii
undoubtedly increase interest in tn