Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-10
the particular science OF government
which obtained at Mexico City.

/ the particular science OF government
which obtained at Mexico City.
| -
As in all other parts Of the world, the
cost OF living advanced in Mexico and
produced discon.
High Cost Of Living tent. since there
Breeds Discomfort was was no .a eompen n
| wages for a large art Of the population
| The evils of extended tenure were &C.
| centuated and President Diaz's lengthen-
| ing years rendered him insensible to the
| unrest rapidly developing in the north
| where propinquity to the democratic in.
situations OF the United States inspired
discomfort with the regime so powerful
| at the Mexican capital.
This dissent found expression in the
centennial year In the person of Fran
| cisco 1. Madero. the student scion of one
of the wealthiest and most powerful
families Of Mexico. Born at Parras. Goa
hula, in the late sixties. he was educated
in Mexico. at Mount st. Mary's College
in Maryland and in France Returning
to Mexico he found the family fortunes
| so ample that he had little to do save con-
tinue his observations of governmental
policies and to make an occasional trip
to the United States.
piece of guarantees of liberty and equal
ity Of opportunity among all citizens. but
In its operation under Porfirio DiaZ, Senior
MaderO saw much to criticise. And his
criticism was unusually direct and force
fui considering the custom of Struggling
silence which most of his class adopted.
In 1909 he wrote a book entitled THE
Presidential Succession, which was d
powerful arraignment of the system
whereby Porfirio Diazs rule perpetuated
fY{ m IN CT
His arrest on a frivolous charge at
San Luis Potosi quickly followed. but.
after a month in jail at Monterey, he
was released on bail. The story runs
that Don Evaristo Madero, his grand
father. and the abIest of all the clan,
sent word to President Diaz that there
would be dire consequences for the gov
eminent If harm came to Francisco. The
Maderos were not to be ignored. Fran
cisco announced his candidacy for the
presidency on the no-re-election party's
ticket in 1910. His platform was the
plan de San Luis Potosi," drawn up
at the city of that name by influential
opponents of the existing order, and
land taxation. education and election
laws, and reorganization of the judiciary.
The conditions which the reform party
declared it would relieve are wildly de-
scribed in the
PROMISED Reforms memorandum on
Recently Outlines re eOu.,on ns m Me sne
ico'' which the constitutionalst party OF
today presented to Congress through Sen
ator Morris Sheppard of Texas:
The great fault of the administration
Of Gen. Diaz was his inability to appre-
ciate the necessity for education among
the lower classes, to afford them an OPP
portunity to earn a livelihood consistent
with the economic development of the
times. The great land barons whom Gen.
Diaz permitted fraudulently to wrest
vast tracts Of territory from their rightfui
owners, eIeverly managed to evade the
payment of taxes, imposing this burden
upon the Iaboring classes, who, already
staggering under their load, now wanted
for even food to eat. The foreign con-
cessionaires, merchants, contractors and
officials, during this period and until the
close Of the Diaz regime, enjoyed great
prosperity, but not so the ordinary clti
zen of Mexico, who, day by day, found
himself more closely approaching indus
trial bondage, il not actual slavery"
But Maderos candidacy was futile. The
"cientificos'' were in complete contro.
Gen. Diaz was declared reelected. Be-
fore he began, November 80, 1910, to serve
his seventh term, his young opponent was
already organizing the elements of discon-
tent into an agreement for military revolt
The Madero family prepared to support
Francisco, although some of his relatives
thought his radical ideas too far in ad-
vance of his times. To avoid the running
consequences of the reprisals to be ex-
pected from the Diaz government, the