Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1915-04-17
MEXICO'S LATEST
MAN OF THE HOUR"
Alvaro Obregon a Different Kind of
Mexican observation-disclosures of
Farmer Than Fighter, Never
theless He Is Called Napoleon"
Bv ELLIS RANDALL

! INTIb recently Alvaro Obregon, the
| u youngest of the Mexican chieftains who
| have figured In the revolutionary wars of
| the last two or three years, was compare
! lively unknown outside his turbulent coun-
try. Yet obregon, the hero of the battles
Of Puebla and Mexico City, is the foe who
was most feared by Huerta and who has
outgeneraed villa on more than one occa-
sion News out of Mexico has to be modi-
fed by many considerations, and the three
days battle of Celaya may may not
prove to have been decisive victory for
the Carranzistas, buff you remember that
it's Mexico-General Obregon now seems to
have superseded Huerta and villa and Car
rama as "the man Of the hour" For sew
eral months the Carranzistas have admitted
that their hopes rest on this young ranch
owner Of Sonora. They call him "the right
hand of Carranza"-and often "the Napoleon
of the West"
Likes Farming Better Than Fighting
Obregon is very different from many of
the military leaders whom the revolutions
Of his country have set in the limelight
Like Huerta, Obregon Is no ignoramus. He
ls indeed, one of the best educated men in
Mexico Unlike Huerta, however, he is no
imam eater" At heart, so his friends as
sert. he Is not even a soldier. He has prob
least amount of personal ambition to be
found among the army commanders In
Mexico.
More than once he has expressed his dis
gust for the game of warfare. 1t is a
DEVILS game he says with emphasis, de-
clarinE he would like to be out OF 1t and
back on his farm (for It's more of farm
than a ranch) His record is remarkably
free from charges of atrocities. When he
had helped establish Madero in the presi-
dency, Obregon refused to continue with the
military forces and returned at once to
Sonora,
Quite possibly Alvaro Obregon is not n
paragon of patriotism or an example of
perfection as warrior, but he does possess
qualities which are refreshing to come
across in a Mexican revolutionst 1t is
certain that he earnestly desires for the
poor classes the educational opportunities
which make a nation prosperous and power
full. The program which he wishes to see
carried out in a peaceful Mexico is an edu-
catonal program. Here is what he says
himself:
Menace of Illiteracy
I'VE MeXicans do not hate foreigners. but
we do envy them for their superior educa-
tion and business knowledge. We the
foreigners coming into our country, getting
good wages and living in good houses and
on the best of the land while our people
live in huts and get barely enough to keep
body and soul together One of the lies
circulated against us is that we intend to
force payment of such high wages that cap
ital will forsake the country. All we insist |
on is living wage, decent house to live |
in and schools to send the Mexican chill
dren to, so that the generation to come will |
hn n6n tpd
as in the case of their unfortunate fathers
and mothers.
"Why should we hate the foreigner upon |
whom we must depend to teach us modern |
ways of accomplishing things? But we do
envy them when realize that own
people denied the same opportunities.
We are fighting to cut down that 70 per
cent of illlteracy in Mexico, and we expect |
to win the battle"
Thus is Obregons wish for Mexico
pressed by "the general who can read as
we'll as write"
Obregon is So years old. He comes of a
well-to-do family long prominent in the |
State of Sonora, which touches the Amer
lean border west of El Paso. Early in life
he saw the injustices heapcd upon the poems
and formed opinions hardly in accordance
with those generally held by his class.
friend Of his now in the United States says
that those who knew him then Cooked
upon him a dreamer young chap whose
hopes bordered the unattainable. Some
disllked his liberal Views. which approached
socialism. but none ever quarreled with
him concerning those views He is not
man to quarrel with"
Obregon an Unsuitable Reader
He is an Unsuitable reader and in his list
of supplies are always to be found orders
for books, magazines and newspapers. He
carries with him a small library while in
the field and his farmhouse in Sonora is
we'll filled with books, especially those of
general literature and on the subject of me-
chanics.
In his carly twentes he invented an agri-