Arizona republican., 1911-03-15
A New Reign of Cruelty in Mexico.


 Back of all the explanations put forth by the Mexican government con- corning its suspension of constitu- tionaI guarantees" is the cold fact that the policy just adopted is a policy of pitiless punishment of cap tured insurrectos
 Senor Limantour, the minister of finance and the Mexican ambassador at Washington both take care to eN- plain that the suspension of constitu- tional guarantees does not mean that drum head court martials are to take the place of regular court procedure in the trial of accused persons; that the meaning of the new order is. sim ply. that trials will be expedited"
 The explanation is made, of course, in deference to American opinion; for Americans do not take kindly to the idea of summary execution of prison CTS. But no american who is familiar with Mexican affairs will be deceived by these explanatory statements.
 The manner in which the Mexican authorities expedite" the case of a prisoner accused of crime has become well known. even under the protec- ton of constitutional guarantees The constitution of Mexico guaran- tees to every accused person an or derly trial in court. but long ago an easy way of avoiding troublesome court procedure was found. A trial is avoided through the simple process of shooting the prisoner and report ing that he tried to escape and was killed in an effort to recapture him. This procedure is favorite one with the "rurales," whose prisoners by a remarkable coincidence are given to efforts to escape"
 Now it is decided to sweep away the shadowy protection of "constitu- tional guarantees" and leave prison CTS wholly to the mercy of the of ficers into whose hands they fall The new method will relieve the au- thorities of the bother of explaining that the prisoners tried to escape It is only necessary to say that their trial was expedited"
 The processes of government in Russia and Mexico are strikingly sim liar. Each country is ruled by d despot from whom the citizen has nothing to fear so long as he refrains from expressing dissatisfaction with his government In each country the citizen who rcfrans from words or acts hostile to the authorities enjoys such a large measure of personal liberty that there is little need for him to know that he has a govern ment-eXcept when he pays his taxes or finds his property taken from him through some refined process of graft Except when there are civil disturb ances, one can travel in complete safety in either country. The iron hand of the law is strong in pre- serving order. In Russia. although that country has 70 constitution in reality, there are, by grace of the czar, certain constitutional guaran tees" among which is the assurance of fair and orderly trial following
 TFrsf tically, if the alleged crime be words or acts against the constituted au- thority. the accused person finds that he has no constitutional rights Through administrative process" his case is expedited" and without more than a mere pretense of a hearing he is sent to prison, to Siberia, or to the gallows at the whim of the near est military commandant Mexico has written constitution, which guaran- tees to the citizen quite as much lib- erty as the American enjoys under his constitution. But Francisco Madero. d wealthy and honored citizen of the republic. was foolish enough last sum- mer to believe that the Mexican con sttution meant something, and he was presumptuous enough to become a candidate for the presidency. 4 lawyer of the City of Mexico met Ma dero on a journey. and they had d chat on returning to the capital. the lawyer reported that Madero made some remarks unfriendly to President Diaz. Very promptly Madero was arrested and thrown into jail. To shoot him would have been indiscreet. Finally released, he escaped to Texas and started the present instruction. In former years scores of men were arrested because they presumed to criticise the government; and, try