The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1913-09-05
IN MEXICO


contributes an article to the last is
sue of the Outlook in which he por-
trays the real condition of affairs in
Mexico. He says that our American
newspapers are amazingly ignorant of
the actual conditions, and that our in
formation of the Mexican situation is
astounding.
We make the following extracts:
"The condition of the country today
is hopeless. There is hardly any state
that is not disaffected, and the gov
eminent controls only the territory
Immediately, adjacent to the railway
as far north from the City of Mexico
as Zacatecas. For five months there
have been no trains through from La
redo, Piedras Negras or JuareZ, or any
other border point except, for short
time, from Matamoras North of FAC
atecas there is not a mine or manufac-
turing industry of any kind that is
running, and south of Zacatecas there
is nothing doing ten miles away from
the railway.
"The government is bankrupt; the
railway system of some $4,000 kilome-
tiers is bankrupt, and it will take $780,
100000 to put its physical condition
If the truth were known, most of the
banks would be found to be insolvent,
and thousands of men supposed to be
and rated as wealthy are pawning
their jewelry. Take, for instance, the
town of Sombrerete, place of some
10000 or 10000 inhabitants; you can
not buy a spool of thread or. a lead
pencil or yard of cloth in it.; even
the shelving in the stores has been
Quilted, and 5000 men who might be
and should be working there are drift
ing into the revolutionary ranks. The
miner, as a rule, is not natural rev.
olutionist; he prefers to work and
take his chances on stealing a little
rich ore to help out; but present con-
ditions are forcing him into rebellion
or outlawry, and the longer he keeps
at that the harder it will be to induce
him to return to legitimate work.
$50 far as the lives of Americans
and other foreigners in Mexico are
concerned, they are comparatively
safe as long as they consent to have
their horses and mules, money and
general supplies taken from them
without protest: but the slightest re-
sistance outside of talk is death
warrant.
with such a condition of anarchy,
it is almost criminally absurd for the
United States even to dream of bring
ing these people together and restor-
ing order by any legal procedure. To
talk of an election, when even in Mex
ico's most peaceful days an election
was a farce, is beyond the power of
derision; and to keep hands off and
acknowledge Carranza as beligerant
and lift the embargo on arms means
chaos in place of anrchy.
eff Huerta resigned and CarranZa
was made president tomorrow. it
would not change the situation a par
ticle Not a single leader of the rev.
dictionary forces trusts the other to
divide the spoils fairly or to carry out
any particular legislation which the
people ask. There might be a few
weeks of comparative quiet, until
each saw what he was going to get,
and then it would commence all over
again.
ditions is correct, there can be but
one outcome; and whether the presi-
dent and his cabinet like it or not
whether congress likes it or not, and
whether the people like it or not, that
outcome is intervention. There is no
other possible solution.
Intervention would be serious, but
not to the extent which many sup
pose. There is large element of re-
sponsible Mexicans who are secretly
wishing and praying for it, and if it
were once fully understood and be-
lieved that we did not wish to take
or annex their country, it would not
be long before there would be a very
strong element giving its assistance
to the restoration Of ordey."
Ocala, not to be surpassed in good