The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-03
DIAz PROMISES REFORMS.

President Daz of Mexico has GER
talnly gone as far as any reasonable
expectation justified, in complying with
the demands Of the insurgents. First
Of all he comedies the principle of no re-
election of the chief executive. This
continuance in office has been the
great Diaz offense. At the same time
1T has been the strength of Mexico !;
1t has reassured foreign investors, so
that vast sums are invested in Mexico
that, under other conditions, would have
been kept entirely away from that
country. Foreign investors had no doubt
that, with Diaz at the helm, their
money was secure and their interests
properly protected, Mexico in this has
been marked contrast to others of the
Latin American Republics, in its sta
billty, its order, and the just enforce
ment Of the laws, even though that en-
| forcement has been arbitrary at times.
1t Is an open question in world politics
whether the change will be to the ad
vantage Of Mexico in foreign eyes. To
be sure, President Diaz is getting to
be very old man. He could not be ex-
pected to rule the country much longer,
whatever might come; but. as he volun-
tarily surrenders the principle of re-
peated elections, that ought to go
long way with those who have made
his retirement from office the prime
factor In their revolt and demands
Other reforms that are mentioned
do not loom so conspicuously large in
foreign eyes. The extension of the vot-
inJ privilege to those "who are con.
sidered capable of voting is a curl
Gus sort Of wording. The question will
Immediately arise who it is that will
pass upon their capability and how this
will be done. 1t is undoubtedly true
that there are vast masses of illiterates
In Mexico who would know little or
nothing about the governmental affairs,
and whose capabilities for right vot-
ing might fairly be questioned; and
yet to say that some authority must
pass upon this capability implies, first
Of all, an invidious discrimination that
Y ould be hard to exercise with Justice,
and it is plain that it offers unlimited
opportunities for gross abuse and cor
ruption- Still. the voting privilege, so
far as the selection of President in
Mexico is concerned, has been such a
negligible quantity that perhaps the
Mexicans do not realize the difficulty
in making such determinations as other
peoples would do. President Diaz in
the past has allowed those who would
vote for him to vote; those who wanted
to vote for somebody else were there.
by disqualified. And so it is quite
possible that the concession which he
proposes may be favorably received by
the insurgents.
The abuse of power by the legal and
administrative officials will be hard
to root out. That power is partly Judi
cial, partly administrative, and has
been exercised in an arbitrary spirit
that would be absolutely repulsive to
such people as our own. But that sort
of exercise of power appears to be re.
ceived in Latin countries with favor,
and probably the direction which the
exercise of the powers of those Off
Gals might take, would count for more
with the insurgents than the exercise of
the power itself. If they could have con-
troI Of those local officials, they would
doubtless be quite content to have the
power continued substantially as it has
been exercised in the past
The great economic proposition re-
ferred to in President Dlaz's message
to the Mexican Congress, however, is
his declaration in pursuance of Minister
Limantour IS pledge, that he had de-
termined to find efficient means to
bring about the division of the great
private land estates-by far the most
important of all the propositions
brought forward. Perhaps President
Diaz brings this to the front with the
more gusto, inasmuch as it will strike
the Madero family about the hardest
of any family in Mexico The Maderos
have immense landed estates, and they
are at the head of the insurgent move
ment. 1t is quite possible that, in prom
ising this. President Diaz, while taking
chuckling satisfaction in it, will arouse
an opposition that will 20 far to offset