Evening journal., 1914-03-10
BRYAN MORE
HOPEFUL NOW
ABOUT MEXICO
BY IOHN E. NEYIN

was real improvement I'm the Mexi
can situation today In the opinion O
Secretary Of State Bryan and othe
high administration officials. Thu
grave danger Of international compIi
cations growing out OF the forcibl,
recovery of Clemente Vergara's bod,
from the lone grave in the Hidalg,
cemetery where 1t was buried Is be
lieved TO have been averted The mucl
mooted raid into Mexican territor,
turns out 70 have been a commercial
transaction pure and simple. Rela,
tives Of the dead rancher paid S4Ol
for an expedition, most Of the mem
bers of which we're Mexicans-ant
no one Of whom was Texas Ranger
Ito recover the body And II was
not until it was actually on American
soil that the Federal and State off,
cials we're notified. Incidentally army
officials disprOvod in their official re-
ports the claims of Governor ColQuitt
of Texas, and his aides that Vergara
had been tortured by fire before
death. The undertaken who took
charge Of the body reported that there
are no traces of burns on II.
The reports from General Bliss to the
War Department, and from Consul Gar
rett TO the State Department. both of
which were considered at length at to.
days cabinet meeting, agree in almost
every detail They clear the Texas au-
thorities from the earlier allegations
that they had winNed at a deliberate
armed invasion of friendly territory. And
Garrett clears himself of the charge
that he was party TO the expedition.
IL is understood that at the cabinet
meeting another chief topic of discussion
was whether the charges of the oppon-
eBts of the Wilson administration policy.
especially those in Congress. shall be
further answered Senator Shively and
Senator Sheppard essaycd the role of de-
Tenders OF the administration Yesterday.
but il was agreed today that in the de-
bate Senator Fall. who led the attack,
bad much the better of the exchange. II
is understood that Senator Stone. of
Missouri, who is to be the new chairman
of the Senate foreign relations commit
tee, will, as soon as his health permits
a return 10 his place in the Senate, make
a set speech taking up the Fall charges
and answering them. The State De-
partment will be expected to furnish the
needed information, something which il
failed to do for Senator Shively yester-
day. There was a disposition on the
part of a number of close friends of the
administration to criticize Secretary of
State Bryan for having failed to realize
just what information Fall possessed
and getting facts together to refute at
least a part of his allegations. Il is now
understood that so far as the list Of al
legged outrages read into the Senate rec
ord yesterday is concerned there are
instances that are capable of an explana-
tion. Many of the persons killed, it is
alleged, met death c<ther as participants
in fights during the Madero revolution
or We're victims OF marauding bandits
who raided under Diaz even more freely
than under Madero or later under
Huerta.
So far as the other threatened for
eign complications are concerned,
more especially the reported dissatis-
faction Of Germany and Japan with
the Wilson policy. the President and
his advisors were hopeful that most
of IL was founded on rumor and not
on fact.
In his report on the Yergara mat
ter, Garrett wired that on Saturday
he had been making an investigation
into certain of the circumstances
surrounding the Texans killing. He
remained in Laredo Saturday night
At o'clock Sunday morning word
was sent to him that II he would pro-
ceed TO a specified point few miles
distant, he would be put in possess
sion of Vergara's body. Garrett hur-
ried there at once and found the
body in care of a number OF YER
gara's relatives. In his dispatch the
consul said that he understands the
body was taken from the Mexican
cemetery and brought across the line
by relatives Of Vergara and that no
one in official life in Texas was in any
way concerned with the recovery.
Secretary Bryan stated that Con-
sui Garrett did not know the names
OF the persons who recovered the
body. but was endeavoring TO ascer-
tain.