Arizona republican., 1913-10-25
Memorial Addressed to Con gress Says Full and Free' Election Would Be Farce and Crime Against Humanity
IIK ENED TO
 NEGRO VOTE
Any Man Elected by Peon Vote Would Have to Be Kept in Office by Amer ican Arms and American Intervention
Especial to The Republican,

Special to The Republican, WASHINGTON. D. C., oct 24.- That any attempt to hold a full and 1 free" election in Mexico, such as de- manded by President Wilson, would 1 be a farce. while to succeed in hold l ing one would be a ''crime against | humanity" is the contention of lead 1 ing American residents of Mexico. i set forth in a memorial addressed to i President Wilson and congress. "A full and free'' election would result in peon domination. Peon domination. these memOrialists in sist, would fasten upon Mexico all the disadvantages of negro rule in the southern states during the ear pet bag reconstruction regime, null
 tiplied a thousand fold
 American intervention can have but one meaning, they say, and this is American invasion. Any man elected
 by the peon vote would have to be
 kept in office by American arms. He
 would be chosen by force and sup ported by force. just as completely as was Porfirio Diaz or Victoriano
 Huerta and the results, so far as Mexico is concerned would be to make bad matters worse.
 Copies of the memorial signed by Major Cassius F. Gillette. formerly an officer of the engineers corps of the United States army and now a consulting engineer. with headquar- ters in Mexico City. and twenty other Americans. most of them men of long residence in Mexico. have been received in Washington It was
 
 patches from Mexico City that the memorial was addressed to Provi- sional President Huerta It is ad- dressed to President Wilson and the members of congress of the United States.
 We believe the administration is entirely sincere. It is simply misin- formed and trying to apply a sound principle, which unfortunately, is wholly inapplicable to Mexico now The remedy would be infinitely worse than the disease" these Americans assert. If there could be literally a full and free election in Mexico to- morrow there is not a shadow of doubt that Gaona. the leading bull fighter, would be overwhelmingly elected president, just as Jack John son, the negro prize fighter. would be overwhelmingly elected governor of Mississippi under similar condi- tiOns.
 The peons constitute 75 per cent of the population Not per cent of them can read or write Millions of l them have no home save a blanket They have no foundation upon which to found an effective patriotism. They will take patriotism and then use it to join any kind of a rebellion i that comes along. Simply conscious ! of grievance against society, their | only idea of a remedy is to grab !! anything they can grab in safety | Of the possibilities of the franchise | to make an orderly amelOration of | political and social conditions they | have not the vaguest conception
 Nothing is so easy to start as a | rebellion in Mexico. The peon comes | from a warlke ancestry to whom the i shedding of human blood was a rou- | tine part of his religious life and in a rebellion he has nothing to lose and everything to gain. He can loot 1 to his hearts content from lone ha- ciendas or small villages, live a free life on horseback and drink and eat without working, carry off women and steal clothing, horses and equipment WIlHOuI ulIIlcuIty- IT pursued by the government forces his troops scatter to the mountains in practical safety. There are plenty of leaders for such bands of bandit rebeIs'-men of in telligence and nerve of the Quantrell or Jesse James, Chris Evans. had-man type. Under strong government, able and ready to throw heavy forces at once around solitary outbreak. ban ditism does not thrive, but under weak government like that of Madero. 1 it spreads like wildfire"
 This is the element that would be placed in power in any full and free election. Why should the United States try to force upon Mexico a full and free" election with all the horrors of peon government? these Americans ask, and continuing, say:
 "Under conditions existing in Mexico. a man who would start a rebellion among the peons is thousand times more a knave or fool than one who smokes cigarettes in a powder factory"
 WEATHER TODAY.