Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-06-17
VILLA s POWER
OVER FOLLOWERS
!. CRUDELY GREAT
Unable to Read and Write, and
Without Self-Control, He Is
Idol Of Poor People Of War
torn Mexico.
(By Floyd Gibbons.)

FL Paso. Tex, June 12.-Genera
Francisco Villas reported offer [,
eliminate himself in the Mexico stu
alton in the interests Of paeificatiol
Of the country, as urged by Preslden
Wilson. is no new concession. FouI
months ago in an interview he tol,
me:
II never want TO be president O
Mexico. | realize my unftness"
Villas own comprehension and adj
mission of his orudity is characters
tic that is first TO appeal to those who
meet him. Handicapped by a ptifu
lack of education and forced to crap
pie with ever rising suspicious OF
those upon whom he must depend
Villa for almost year has been ad.
ministering the civil and military az.
fairs of territory as large as that
part Of the United states east OF the
Mississippi river and north of the
Mason and Dixon line.
Unable 10 Read or Write.
In the multitudinous details of this
work, no matter how much the eXecu-
ton of it may be criticised, Villa has
carried in his head" He has no re-
course to books or records. He Is UNI
able to read or write, beyond a labor
ious and painful deciphering of the
most simple sentences and the equal
" slow scratching of his name with
pen. Letters, kilograms and com
munications of all kinds must be read
to him by his secretaries.
| have seen Villa take a typewrlt-
ten page and gaze curiously. intently,
pitifully. upon IT, while his face be-
. 90 ~ ha N
as much enlightenment from 1t as If
il were wall of Egyptian hieroglyph-
les. He must turn the document over
to some inferior, to read to him.
This assistant may be inferior in
power, but villa realizes that the man
is superior in mental training. Villa
knows further that he is in the pow
er of that assistant, who is able to
make words out of pages of mystery.
villa, with his inherent Indian sus-
pioiousness, must place himself in
this mans hand and believe what he
says.
Overcomes Great Handicap.
Surround such a man as Villa with
clicking typewriters and telegraph In
struments, financial problems and
diplomatic questions, foreign eompli-
cations and internal disturbances,
and reports from civil departments
and military detachments, and you
have the picture of a primitive human
being hemmed in with the hateful
horizon of things he can't under
stand and breads to trust. villa is so
surrounded, and the extent to which
he accompanies his ends is beyond
what one could expect.
In his private car at times | have
seen him raise his hand YEARLY and
stop his secretary in the midst or
reading some paper AS If in despair
he walks about the train and ex-
changes commonplace remarks with
the trainmen and soldiers. If the train
happens to be at standstill he walks
through the ever present crowd of
poems surrounding it, and stalks out
across some nearby field, followed al
ways by several members of his body
guard. There, away from the hum OF
red tape, he seeks relief by pistol
practice or a game of cards on a
blanket spread on the ground.
Idol of the Poor.
Villa can forget that he Is a man
Of the people no more than he could
get used to wearing a necktie, which
he never can. That is what made him
the idol of the poor in northern
Mexico. When his private train arrives
in town during the frequent troop
movements back and forth across the
republic, the station is always
crowded with the poor of the town
awaiting TO receive him.
However small the village, there is
always a band or stringed orchestra
present. When the train stops VIVA
steps to the rear platform and smiles
in his boyish, bashful way
The poems cheer. The air Is full OF
'Vivas" Mothers hold up their babies
to him. Little Indian girls deeked In
white throw lunches of flowers on
the platform. The old men lift their
frayed sombreros and squint through
their square-rimmed spectacles. me
boys climb upon the train or cling TO
poles and trees and add to the ain
with their whistles.
Secretary Makes His Speeches.
A secretary steps forward and raises
his hand. The smile on Villas face IS
replaced by serious look as he leans
forward in an awkward attitude ana
rests his hands on the brass railing |
His posture then could be likened 10
the one assumed by the prizefighter
when the referee announces that ne
has challenged the winner of the
bout
The secretary makes speech He |
says that the great General Villa Is
trying to bring the poor people into |
their own, that the enemies of Mexico
are plotting the ruin of the country, |
that the dark days are about over ana !
that peace is about to reign-after the |
next battle,
The appearance is concluded among |
cheers and more ''vivas." The ma
tional anthem is played and all hats
removed Assistant secretaries throw /
printed prcclamations and pamphlets
from the car windows and the train
rolls on.
Hides From Gay Admirers.
The day after Villas arrival in Ira /
puato before his disastrous defeat at
Celaya was Sunday. Villas own mill
tary band of forty pieces, respondent
IN blue uniforms, brass buttons and
gold braid. was formed in a semi-cT-
Gle about the observation platform OF
the generals private car. Beyond the
RIM formed by the musians the
poems filled the railroad yards, their
white cotton clothes and varihued
serapes giving the assemblage the ap-
of a scrambled rainbow
The rear platform was crowded
With the white-collar dignitaries who
nave attached themselves to the villa
comet. With brass buttons agleam
Ina sabers attached, with uniforms
pressed and hair oiled. these clerical
'oldlers and typewriter generals
ooked down upon the celebration
Fith smiles of satisfaction. But villa
vas not among them. Although the
'ahu concert was in his honor ana
ms ,S appearance would have been