Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-03-13
|D|Az AN ACTIVE MAN
FOR ONE IN ILL HEALTH
Mexican President Has Not
Been on a Sick Bed for
Fifty Years.

MEXICO CITY, March 13-Gen. DiaZ,
without doubt the busiest man in Mexico,
took time from his duties yesterday to
see correspondent. and to reply to a
number of specific queries touching upon
the revolutionary situation. He had just
concluded a conference with his minister
of war. A dozen persons were still wait
ing to consult him on one matter or an
other. and many more would ONE before
the days work was over.
He was not the sick man that in some
quarters he has been made to appear.
His step was firm. He walked with an
erect. military hearing. which is strik-
ing characteristic of the executive. When
he spoke his voice was strong and deep.
Gen. Diaz wore a black business suit.
which accentuated the whiteness Of his
hair and mustache. In appearance he
was stern. and he had an air of agrees
siveness, but the lines Of his face, which
stamp him as man of determined char
acter, softened into an amused smile
when one of the objects of the vista
desire to refute stories of his illness-was
mentioned.
Some persons in the United States are
persistently trying to make it appear that
you are not in good health, and that that
fact menaces the stability of the Mex
lean nation it was suggested.
DICK E1ICy ears ago.
Fifty years ago." he said, motionng
his caller to seat beside a small table
and seating himself opposite, Il can re-
member having had typhoid fever. Since
then 1 have passed no time on beds of
sickness"
/ Why he said, seemingly pleased at
the recollection of scenes that rose before
hia vision. when / was in the field lead
ing my armies there were months at a
time during which l slept under the open
sky. l never was i'll. If. then, 1 could
endure such hardships and keep my
health, why should I not be able to keep
it now. when I can take proper care of
it?
"I pass my days in my Office he con-
tinued seriously, "and frequently I am
busy until midnight Is that the part of
a sick man? I have not been in better
health in many years than at the present
moment"
DO you consider that the presence of
the American troops in Texas threatens
in any degree to impair the friendly re-
lations between the two countries?" he
was asked.
Assurances Not Questioned.
In reply the president said he had no
right to and would not question the as
surance given him personally by Presi-
dent Taft in that regard.
Are conditions in Chihuahua any worse
than they were, say, two months ago?"
Conditions there are improving" he
replied. ''They are more favorable today
than they have been for many weeks.
The operations in progress in Chihua-
hua,' with another of those smiles which
appear to Turk just beneath the stern ex-
terror, do not constitute warfare, but
hunting making use of the English
word.
1T is reported that the government is
about to suspend the personal guaran-
tees" was suggested. els it true?'
There are extraordinary infirmities
which cannot be cured with ordinary rem
edies. and anarchy is an extraordinary
social inf1rmity."
In no part of the trouble, he added, was
there danger to foreigners, nor had Mex
leo made representations at any time she
was not able to control the situation.
Represented as Indignant.
LONDON. March 13-Dispatches to the
Daily Telegraph say that President Diaz
is represented as boiling over with in
dignation at the prospect of intervent
ton. and that Senior Limantour, minister
of finance, says that Americans and
other adventures are barred by Presi-
dent DiaZ as outlaws.