The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-04-21
LETTER FROM
/. TAMP|CO, MEXICO

|. i saw q CdFlCdLuIc 1C" ooyS nSs
in one of the newspapers that slip
ped by the censors, which pictures
to my view the conditions we are
now passing. The scene is drawn
on broken, stony surface, not
sprig of grass, not a bush, not tree
barrenness in all it's sombre solitude
On the horizon can be seen angry
clouds that impressed the idea of a
destructive tempest. On the left
of the scene stood a powerful, portly
man, well dressed, well fed, with
leather leggins to the knees, dollar
marks on his white vest and covered
with silk hat, displaying the sobri-
ouet wealth" On the right was
a burly giant, of herculean, muscu-
lar power, twice the size of the one
described, poorly clad, small head,
without hat or shoes, and showing a
savage, gorilla like face. He was
girded with a belt that bore the So
briquet Ignorance" Between these
two characters, one hundred or
more feet apart, stood the figure of
a delicate woman neatly and mod
estly attired, and on her skirts was
written Humanity" Around her
neck was huge rope that made one
turn and the ends were being pulled
by "Wealth" and Ignorance" She
is the picture of intense agony; but
she stood erect, as if she would not
fall until the head was crushed from
the trunk. Such a picture is Mexi-
co, more real than ideal. ~
The angry, black, electrically
charged, war cloud has hung over
this country for about four years,
and it has widened and grown more
destructive. Poor Mexico! Every
phase of society has felt the cruel,
the terrible consequences.
Churches have been closed,
schools suspended; homes have been
abandoned, pillaged, looted, destroy
ed; offices are deserted; business is
railroads and equipages
are like the wreck of a head-on col
lision; mills and factories are silent;
brother reaches for the death grip
of brother; widows and orphans are
daily multiplied; men have no heart
to work, if there was work, no in
centive to plant and sow for their
products are taken from them, and
destroyed; fiat money is emitted one
month to be declared illegal the
next, and eyes look from sad faces,
many are expressionless, hope has
died. Wane, misery and death
stalk over the land.
Added to the trouble heaped up
on trouble a famine threatens. Ev-
cry few days some tons of flour and
corn are shipped in and it is pitiful
to see the hundreds of men, women
and children, that gather at the clos
ed bakeries and stands for corn,
begging for bread, earnestly plead
ing to sell them a little corn. Only
two or three small loaves Of bread,
according to size, one dollars worth,
will oe sold to one person; only two
liters of corn, little more than two
quarts, ranging in price from thirty
five to fifty cents litre, will be sold
to one Individual.
The leaders of this terrible de-
vastating and cruel revolution in
some way manage to get money to
buy arms and ammunition; but none
to provide provisions to appease
hunger. Money and capricious ig-
norance are crushing the vitals of
the suffering nation.
What proportion of the suffering
does the manufacturer of arms and
ammunition bear in the strife now
going on around us? What respon-
sibility has a nation peacefully
watching the expectation of the
death dealing instruments of war?
Has the wounded and left for dead,
no neighbor?
The battle that will decide the
capture of Tampico or it's retention
by the Constitucionalista forces is
haipor cf,,hhorp1xy fo,,rb& ,o,, ,,,ef