The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-01
VERA CRUZ GLAD ID
 SEE SIGNS 0F PEACE
Railroad Service Is Resumed to Mexico City and All
 Are Happy

Vera Cruz. Mexico. July 22-tSpecial
 Correspondence.)-Events have moved
 rapidly since the resignation of Huerta
 and things are rapidly assuming a more
 peaceful aspect With the minds of the
 people turning more and more to erea-
 ton and less to destruction.
 Today the break in the railway to Mex
 ico City was repaired and trains are
 ready to go through.
 For the past two days the soldiers who
 have been quartered in the passenger
 station have been moving to new ouar-
 ters. the depots that they have been us-
 ing are being opened up for freight, the two wheezy little yard engines that the
 Mexicans left behind as worthless when
 they evacuated, but which were nut in shape by our people, have been shunting cars all day and lining them up for the first through freight train that has
 been run out of here since April 22. 1 heard my first tick of the telegraph to- day as the messages were rolling into the office of the division superintendent yardmasters were up in the office seek ing instructions as to the cars to use, and hNaht eitC 6chtAdi ttldHdStI ltll lntill
 to put out the foreign cars first, as they
 wanted to use their own cars; billing clerks have been working overtime to get
 ladings ready, and altogether it looks
 more like sense and less like war than
 anything l have seen in Mexico
 The first through passenger train. will
 make it's Initial trip tomorrow, but on
 account of conditions only moderate
 speed can be made. It will take l2 hours
 to make the run to Mexico City, a dis
 tance of 264 miles, The freight trains
 also will not be run at night for a week
 or more, for fear of possible footing by
 bandits. 1 wonder how my friend, John
 Winston, back in Birmingham, would get along if he had his line blocked with freight and could only run his trains while the sun shone. Ship agents are bil- ing the town with notices of the resump- ton of their service, and the Ward line is expected to have one of their boats in by Monday.
 It looks good to me, and I am thinking that from the way Carbajal has started things that if l were a Mexican 1 should vote for him for the presidency. He is certainly making good with whoop SC far, and every one prays that nothing 1 may intervene to stop the good work he has put in motion.
 l saw my second accident yesterday 1 when a poor hombre was killed by fall l ing off wagon and d case of beer failing on him breaking his back The carts they use there are all of the two-wheel va. | riety, and as he was passing over tn, 1 railway tracks, one of the cases tilted off | carrying him with it. A marine passing il | the auto truck to assist in unloading the | 1865 sacks of mail from the Culgoa stopped his car, ran to him and tried to 1 do something for him. but 1t was too late 1 I like these marines. They have heart in them. We use a great many prisoners in loading mails and the guards always see that they have water, and when one is sick he is not allowed to work Tn, ! marines who drive the auto trucks handle them with more ease than any chauffeurs
 that 1 ever saw.
 | Back in the good old days when l wen l to school we had long desk that raI i the length of the room, on each side oi l which we would sit and for a certain | time each day be taught to write. The 1 teacher would set us a copy and l wei | remember one that read; 'rhe pen i. j, mightier than the sword" Back in thos. | days young man was not considered ed
 ucated unless he had speaking acauain tance with Dickens, Thackeray. Pope | Tom Moore, Shakespeare, the Bible ant | Plutarchs Lives. Back there we had de batting societies and l remember that W, l debated the subject as to the pen and thu
 sword, and l upheld the cause of the pen | The study that l gave that debate made | great impress on my boyish mind and l from that good day until now l have al ways felt that the quarrels of the world
 powers could be adjusted by diplomacy | with less cost in lives and coin than to submit differences to the arbitramont ol | the sword.
 Studying closely this Mexican question | and in a way participating therein, I car | but feel that the greatest work the per !, ever did was in signing the protocol tha | signified that there would be no war be | tween countries who should ever b,
 friendly, even though dictator Ina, given grave affront to the United States But studying the Mexican nature closet, | I am sure that any form of government adopted in this country must have thu
 unsheathed sword handy for any emer 1 gencies that may arise, for their Drima
 nature recognizes nothing so much al ! force.
 ! For the present the pen of William Jen
 nings Bryan as Secretary of State ha: | been mighty. but that the pen may ye | have to be bolstered up by the sword oi | Villa and Carranaz in maintaining peace