The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-12-11
GLOOMY OUTLOOK IN MEXICO

GLOOMY OUTLOOK IN MEXICO
The Mexican Congress has nullified
the recent elections in that unhappy
country, and new elections are called
for next July The action taken
is IN accordance with tho programme
Of the dictator TO retain his power
as long as possible, which means that
he will not retire until his so-callcd
government is tipped over by Carran2a
or a new uprising in the shadow of the
palace itself
From the time tho country fell into
the hands Of Spain in 1921, with
| Cortez as Captain General, the MeIi-
cans have made comparatively little
advance in any direction. There is no
middle class in Mexico, There is a
constitution modelled in part on that
of the United States, which. for all
the good il does, might as we'll have
never been adopted In most of the
states education is free and com
pulsory, but the laws are not enforced
and illiteracy is the rule. The coun-
| try has the legislative and judicial
| machinery of the ordinary constitu.
tionai government, but the judges and
| legislators were dominated by Diaz
for thirty years, and now they bend
| tho knee to Huerta-
The civilization Of Mexico is sham
and n pretense. The wealth of the
| country is in the hands of few men
who prefer the rule OF dictator to a
government Of the people, under which
the lands illegally acquired probably
would revert TO the state and the
poems probably would be allowed to
riso from what is in effect state of
bondage to digui6ed citizenship.
The road TO civilization is long and
rocky, and so far as tho Mexicans are
concerned the end is not yet in sight.
The overthrow of Huerta will not
necessarily bring peace, that much is
conceded on all sides. 1t is conceded
d
head of affairs the constitutionalists
viii continue to fight, unless, indeed,
the federal army is able to crush them,
an event extremely improbable at the
present writing.
Recognition OF the Huerta govern
ment by the United States at this time
would not mend matters, whatever the
| result may have been had recognition
been extended in the first place. The
war will go on and the country CON
tinue to be ravaged indefinitely unless
by some happy chance the plutocrats
and poems join hands and sweep out
the adherents of the dictator on the
one hand and the bandits on the other.
The fate of Mexico rests with the
people themselves. The United States
might intervene, but intervention
would probably make a bad matter
worse. We cannot force good govern
ment upon Il people unwilling to receive
it or incapable of enjoying it. Tho
remedy lies in their own hands, and if
the present difficulty is to be COM
posed they alone must do it.
1t is probably the idea OF President
Wilson and his immediate advisers that
sooner or later the Mexicans will
tire of the murderous work now going
on and put stop to it. The Mexican
Congress has shown by it's action in
declaring tho elections void thereby
giving Huerta a longer lease of power
that there is no hope of an Immediate
solution of the problem after the man
ner desired by tho administration at
Washington. Under the most favorable
circumstances IL will require some time
for the army of Carranza TO march 10
Mexico City.
Then, allowing full measure of sue
cess TO the constitutionalists, what
would be the outcome? Would a Car.
rama government be as short lived as
that of the ill-starred Madcro, or would
the various factions compose their diff
iculties, settle down, 60 20 work, and
bring order out OF chaosi We doubt II
they would rise 10 the occasion. There
does not appear TO be much hope for
Mexico in the immediate future. even
If Huerta is eliminated
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The federals in Mexico appear 20 be
.,......--r