The Washington herald., 1917-02-11
SEEN AND HEARD BY GEORGE MINER.
WHERE THE OFFICE SEEKS THE MAN
Governor Alvarado To Be Reelected in Yucatan
and Continue His Brilliant Work as an
Example to the Rest of Mexico.


They don't believe in swapping horses
in the middle of the stream in Yucatan.
This does not SAVIOR exactly of Mexico,
where for the past five years they have
been swapping horses and most every
thing else regardless. But then Yucatan
is not exactly Mexico. While ii is part
of that distraught country it is no.
typical of 1t.
For Yueatan is peaceful and prosper
Gus. Nobody can deny that Even Mexi-
cans admit the Mexico is not entirely
peaceful and that prosperity is condi-
ton they are striving for. Yucatan is.
therefor, a sort of an example to the
rest of the country, a bright and shining
light, as 1t were.
This happy condition on "the Central
American thumb as Yucatan Is aptly
described. is due almost entirely to the
efforts OF one man. That man Is Gen.
Salvador Alvarado. the governor of
Yucatan and the military commander of
the southeastern states. In less than two
years he has worked a miracle there. not
with bloodshed and the iron hand, but by
abolishing evils and administering justice
and equal rights to all.
Next March there is to be an election
for governor. Gen. Alvarado decided not
to be a candidate He feared that II he
did 1t would look as IL he were trying
dictator OF Yucatan, and that would be
directly opposed to his ideas of democ-
racy Also he knew that the state was
now in good running order and that he
could safely hand over its management TO
a successor. Nothing doing. The Yucca
tan voters know when they are well OIL
and they won't risk their prosperity by
a change. So they have insisted to man
than Gov. Alvarado accept a reelection.
There are two political parties in Yuca-
tan, the Socialists and the Constitution
alists The Socialists have an easy con-
troll Of a majority of the votes, and be
1t known that Gov. Alvarado Is an out
and out and ardent Socialist. Also he is
, Constitutionalist, for did he not help
form the constitutional government and
sweep through Mexico with Carranza?
So when these two parties held their
conventions they both nominated him
unanimously. Now he can't get out of 1t
and has to keep on being governor or
offend all the people he has worked so
hard to make his friends.
For you see Alvarado is not native
of Yucatan. He comes from Sonora. way
at the other end of the republic, where
the people and the customs are entirely
different, and he came to Yucatan at the
head Of a conquering army. He was about
as popular as a wet dog at a picnic when
he first breezed in there with his army
of Yadui Indians. 1t did not take them
long to discover. however, that he was
not a bandit nor q looting conqueror nor
wanton blood letter.
He went there to restore order and to
help the people. He did both. And now,
outside that he is, they fairly worship
rim. They don't fear him. for he Is
neither harsh nor dictatorial. He is the
most remarkable when you stop to con-
slider that he can't even speak their lang
uages, which is Maya and Is in universal
use except in the cities where. of course,
Spanish is spoken.
Although he is the absolute ruler of n
half a million people there is no ostenta-
ton about 1t, no parade OF power. There
is not a single guard or sentinel at his
house. Anybody, from the lowest peon
up, can see him there or at the national
palace. There Is no red tape to be un-
wound first He walks unattended on the
streets and mingles with the people with
out any thought of self-protection.
His mode of life Is one of Spartan
simplicity. The last time I saw him,
which was in Merida last August, he
had Just finished a MONDAY meal 1t
had been served on a long, bare board
table set in the piazza running around
the patio in his house. The governor
had on neither coat or waistcoat, col
lar or necktie. He is the sort of
man that, when he tackles a job,
takes of his coat and rolls up his
sleeves. He was in consultation with
the manager of the railways and the
head of the trade commission. In less
than half an hour the important sub
jects they were discussing were set
tied.
In an adjoining room, the 'front.' one
and the best one in the house, which
he uses for an Office, half a dozen
young officers were rafting typewrit-
ers or clicking telegraph keys. Two
or three turkeys strolled among the
flowers in the patio and occasionally
wandered on the piazza to pick up