The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-11-30
By JACK BOYLE,

| NEWS S0TVlCC oLdH
 Correspondent.)
 | Washington, Nov. 30-Of1cials of the United States government are watching closely the events which Of General Alvaro Obregon, recently elected President of Mexico. Gener- al Obregon is the tenth man to bear l that title in the storm-tossed republic years. Not one of General Obre- gon's predecessors served out a legal | ly constituted presidential term be- cause they, or their advisers and supporters, were drugged with pow There grows in Mexico a plant called mariahuana, or Cooks weed. Animals which eat it become "loco or die. To those who dry this weed and smoke 1t come visions of gran dure, phantoms of omnipotence and | delusions of authority. They are seized with insane rages and blood thirsty impulses, and all the immun- | ity to fear and consequence possess ed by the hasheesh -crazed assassins | or ancient Arabia is theirs. Madness and death follow in its wake. It IS still whispered in Mexico that the loss of reason of the Empress Carlotta fol- lowed not the death of MaxfmiI1ian, but secret poisoning with mariahu- ana by those who hated the foreign woman"
 Uncertain Terms.
 l But the ravageS of maTtahuana, a constant menace to Mexico, since it grows wild and anyone may obtain 1t without difficulty or cost, have been trivial compared to the blood and | tears caused by the use and abuse of the habit-forming drug of executive power within the last ten years. Be- cause of it, the terms of General Ob- regon's predecessors varied from 45 | minutes to three years and three months. Because of it, two of them were shot down and killed. Through | it's influence five of them were forced | to flee to other lands and one sought | boundaries. The remaining one, Adolfo de la Huerta, it seems, proha- bly, will relinquish his post tomorrow of his own free will in safety and se- | curity.
 l With General Porfirio Diaz began the ten-year cycle of unrest. For years he had ruled Mexico with an i iron hand until the welding of power was a second nature to him. Al ! though he had grown old, he could | not bear to relinquish its use. So on March 3, 1910, he had himself elected for another term of six years. The iron hand had lost it's grip, how ever and it was no longer an i'm partial hand. Advisers, through whose machinations he would have seen instantly in past years. began to sway him not for his good or Mexi- | co.'s but for their own. ,t They took advantage, 1t is said, of 1 his failing powers, about which he was most sensitive. ''Don Porfirio,' one would say, ''you did not sign that concession you 1 promised me: What have done to offend you"
 'I promised you no concession" the President would reply.
 ''Why. yes, you did. Don't you remember when I spoke to you In | the patio of the palace, last Thurs day you promised that I should have it at once?'
 Abuses of Power.
 | The President could not remember whether he had promised or not, but rather than admit 1t, he would sign | the concession. These abuses of power famed the flame of revolt. The Diaz army was beaten by the forces raised by Francisco L. Madero and | the capital to the victorious revolu- l tionists, fled to Vera Cruz, and sailed to Spain, where he died an exile bit | terly watching the frenzied writhings of the country he had ruled. @' Francisco dc la Barra, polished diplomat, former Ambassador to the l United States and ranking member Of the Diaz Cabinet, through the pEovis- ion of the Constitution of 1857 be- came President ad interim until such time as elections for President cuold be. held. De la Barra sat uneasily ; upon the Presidential chair until Oc- I tGDer z, lSll, when VuducTo "dS elected President for a term of six years. .-. Madero ruled Mexico not with the iron fist, but with the open hand. He | too, was drugged, but with the wis | ionary power of his own personality, his projected reforms and of his Uto- plan dreams. If his hand was open, l the hands of some of his closest ad- | visers were crooked to seize what lay within their reach. Madero, confi- | 6or1f hn h. th~ n- fidence of his people, discharged his own victorious army while he allowed the Federal army, which he had been fighting, to remain the armed force l Of the republic.
 The power fiends of either party began to clamor for their drug. The Cientificos. who had held the upper hand under Diaz, felt all the bangs were deprived of their old prercga- | lives. The followers of Madero
 having had a taste of the insidious elixir, were crazy for more. Felix raised the banner of revolt and marched on the capital.
 Tragic Ten Days.
 Then came the Tragic Ten Days, the
 "Decena Trajica." Madero, with supposedly loyal forces, was ensconc-
 ed in the National Palace. Diaz and his men held the Ciudadela, an ar senal a mile distant There was | wicked fighting in the streets, beau
 tiful buildings were demolished by
 artillery fire, and the sidewalks were
 sprayed with machine gun and rif1'
 bullets. In the midst of the battl,
 Madero was betrayed. His militar.
 commander. General Victoriano Hu
 erta, turned against him and placed
 him with Vice-President Pino Suare under arrest. On February 22, 1913 their bodies were ridd1ed with bullet
 fired under alleged excuse of the ''1e. fuga," which permits the killing of prisoner attempting to escape. Huerta seized his opportunity ant
 the executive power at the same time
 To give semblance of legality to tha seizure, he had Pedro Lascurain, tn ranking member remaining of Ma dero's Cabinet, become President Lascurain then appointed Huert;
 minister of war and resigned, Huerts succeeding to the presidency. Las , carain was addressed as "Mr. Presi