Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1914-03-27
HUERTA AFTER A
YEAR IN HARNESS
Difficulties Mexican President
Has Encountered Have Left
No Stamp on Him.

year in office General Huerta ap-
pears in better health than when he
undertook the presidency The diff
! ficulties he has encountered have
left no stamp upon his features. Six
months ago some of his friends and
most of his enemies predicted early
physical collapse and there were
some who would not have been sur
prised had his intellect suffered as
the result of the enormous odds.
Take things as they come" seems
to have been the lifelong phil
osophy of Huerta, tempered always,
however, with the belief that all
things come to him who waits, es-
pecially to him who waits for and
seises the big opportunity. Worry
ing has never been one of Huerta's
failings. Nor is he a creature of
routine. Regularity does not char
acteriSe his methods. He does his
work when and where it suits his
convenience and all members of his
official family. the public, and his
private family as we'll have to yield.
Long ago he tired of the regular
cabinet meetings and announced that
conferences with his ministers would
take place whenever he summoned
them, and there would be no place re-
garded as sacred to that ceremony.
And so ii has come about that ques-
lions of the greatest import are as
likely to be discussed in his private
home as in the national palace and
not at all infrequently he sends word
TO his ministers suddenly that he
would like to meet them that very
nnrninty in ho oil
tepec castle.
To the famous and ancient park in
which the castle is located he drives
in his automobile. His ministers, also
arriving in their cars, wonder in just
what part the president is going to
see them. Their chauffeurs or aides
sight the presidential car ahead on
one of the many drives and there be-
gins a chase which may come to an
end beneath one of the great shade
trees, or beside the lake. Ministers
and president alight, sit on the
benches or walk along one of the in
tersecting footpaths and there talk of
affairs which perhaps are of inter
national importance. Back of all is
the presidents within. He may be
late. The ministers wait. He may
nave dlltItu Ills al
fairs of state and the ministers are
told to meet him later in the day or
night at his home.
Nelson O'Shaughnessy lately was
the innocent cause of forcing the
ministers to waste what doubtless /
was valuable time. They were walk I
ing with the president in the Cha |
pultepec grounds when the American .
charge d'affairs drove by. The pres
ident recognized his car, and remem- (
bering that there was something that !
he wanted to talk TO the American .
representative about, signalled him to
stop. O'Shaughnessy alighted. joined |
the official group and was preparing
To continue his drive when the presi-
dent asked him to get into his car
with him. The two drove off togeth-
er. leaving Ministers Banquet. AL
cocer and other counsellors of the
president staring after the car. Half
an hour later Huerta seated Onslaught
messy near his own car and re-
sumed the interrupted cabinet meet
ing.
II is not uncommon for the presi-
dent to summon his ministers TO a
meeting during the middle of the
night and cabinet meetings, or what
would pass for cabinet meetings, have
aiken place in cafes.
Huerta does not indulge in physi-
al exercise as a means of recreation.
He derives his recreation in talking
astronomy with any one who can in
crest him in the subject-and the
nan who does must be an expert
,r in dining and visiting with his init
nate friends. The time he retires ap-
,ears a matter of indifference, as
loes his arising in the morning.
Usually he Is up early. The lightest
lind of breakfast. coffee and rolls, he
gets as soon as he is awake. A little
work., If he thinks of anything to do,
nd then almost every morning all
walk up and down on the sidewalk in (
ront of his house in the district
Inown as San Rafael. After that
lore breakfast and then a lot of
york. He may go to the Chapul-
epec woods or to the national palace
ut 1t just as likely he will do his
lorning's work at his home. sum-
loning to him there all who may I
ave business with him. Without
iuch routine. and with executive
lastery showing all he can onto his
1bordinates, he ploughs through the
avs work until or o'clock when
e is ready for dinner. :
Dinner may be in his own home or O.
/ that of one of his friends-Huerta's o,
leas of democracy do not prevent n
i'm from dining where he pleases- m
cry likely in one of the public rest :
Irants. There is one central rest
Irant that has received the greater
art OF his patronage. Here the en-
ance OF the president accompanied
= one or two of his aides, perhaps a
ersonal friend or two and possibly a
ember OF his family. has long since
,ased to be novelty. In the days
Porfirio Diaz the visiting of a
lblic dining place was something of j
state ceremony. His coming and
s going was carefully staged and
-awwsN