Evening star., 1929-12-16
BY HUBERT w. KELLY.

| special Dispatch TO lhe SIar.
| MEXICO CITY, December 16.-Only
the flowers of his campaign have
! adorned the garden of President-elect
Ortiz Rubio these last two weeks. They
are not so pleasing to the eye, all OF
them, but they are acknowledgement
with hair oil and perfume.
Senor Rubio's unannounced departure
for the United States did not entirely
| uproot those flowers, either. How did
they know he had gone? They did not
see him go, and one distrustS rumor in
Mexico. Hence one distrusts everything.
Office seekers, concession seekers, per-
sonal friends and political friends;
deputies with their badges of immunl-
ty, which make it possible for them to
man a machine gun in campaign with
impunity: Suave and portly men with
dark and battling eyes; slim ranchmen
in tight velvet suits, high-heeled boots
and sombrerors with bright tasselS; In
dianS with serapis and copper faces as
pitted with smallpox as many plaster
facades are pitted with bullet marks;
women with long hair, black mantillas
and arms full of lilies-such are the
flowers that grow in the garden OF
Senor Rubio.
Gate Is Guarded Closely.
An iron picket fence separates the
garden from the street, and one gate
with a sentry box to guard 1t gives
access. One must have good credentials
or a charming countenance to pass that
gate. :,
And vet if an undesirable passed it
while the President-elect was in. his
chances of surviving false move
would be very slight indeed. Bullying
hip pockets suggest the uproarIous pos
sibilitieS of a hostile interview with
Senior Rubio. Every hip pocket bu!ges
not with the passport of many petty
American politicians, but with forty
fiveS which, it is unOfflc!ally rumored
py some persons, have played in the
past the role of ballots in elections.
The ground floor of the Rubio rome,
a three-story gray Stucco house of lit
tie pretenSion, is the reception room,
or, to be exact the first reception room.
Men sit upon tables, congregate In
whispering groups or stand near one
of several doors, ready to spring upon
the first second assistant secretary un-
wise to show himself.
Cloudy With Tobacco Smoke.
The room is dim and cloudy with to-
bacco smoke. OpalS shine dimly on
hands and neckties A portly deputy
with tanned skin and glittering black
eyes fills the air with perfume as he
passes. Everybody shakes hands with
everybody else at every passing. One
deputy shakes hands five times with
the same man in five minutes and re-
turns as an afterthought to shake
hands again. 1t is a comforting sort
of ceremony.
senor 'slim" Hernandez. senor
Rubio'S confidential man, dareS to
emerge from the second reception
room. He wears long overcoat and
an English muffler. He works in
both: the air is very chill indoors.
Immediately he is surrounded by the
multitude
"Just one minute. For the love of
God. 1t is exceedingly important"
Certainly" says Senor Hernandez,
absently. examining a sheaf of docu-
ments before he Scurries out into the
peopled garden. Certainly senor."
He worms his way out. He has for
gotten He will say Certainty" again
in an hour to the same persons.
Pay messengers" Arrive.
Several dusty men raise clamor in
the corridor. There is jingle of metal.
Make way! Make way! Riders from
Sonora. Couriers from Chiapas. A
murmur goes up in the first reception
room. The men, each burdened with
a sack of silver pesos, worm their way
| into the room. A hilarious cheer rises
from several adjacent rooms.
Pay day! Bravo! The StenographerS
come out to greet the pesos. The sec
retaries come out and slap the peso
bearers on the back. 1t is all very
exciting and very significant. A regu-
lar pay day prevents revolution. Senor
Gales paid his army regularly. His
army served him well.
A man-about town strolls in with
gloves and cane. The crowd makes
way. He is a powerful man. Always
he is "ip'' with the government. A few
courageous ones stretch out their
hands.
"How are you, my beloved friend?
Rubio one minute? / have waited three
days"
The man-about- is sympathetic
| He whispers to the guard at the door
! of the second reception room, which
| already is crowded.
| Pass" says the guard, and the
seeker after something joyouSly enters
| He will emerge perspiring and dis
! couraged in several hours. There are
| other reception rooms beyond.
Deputies Confer Vigorously.
Across the street from the stucco
| house-one can see them between two
taxis-is a group of deputies, vigor-
| ously comforting. They are faction
in the chamber, accused of having usec
| rather violent campaign methods
! against the VaSconcelistas in the recent
election. Undoubtedly the accusation
is false, for one may be sure that any
| thing one hears on the streets of the
| City of Mexico will bear thorough in
! Spection. But they are comforting or
| some very vital subject, and anxious
| glances are cast at them from the mer
| in the garden. Deputies, it is said, are
! privileged to settle disputes among
themselves by the primitive method
But nothing happens.
1t is every day. It is endless. Tht
president -elect tried to see everybody
He wanted to see everybody. But ht
could not see the whole million voters
No wonder he slipped out the back dool
and boarded his private car elsewhere
than at the Colonial Station, where
everybody waited to see him off. Nc
wonder he sought refuge in the United
States to see Gales, Rockefeller, Hoover
and everybody else whom, according tc
ineXhaustible rumor, he was to visit.
Just an Average House.
The unkind ones have said that thC
house of Senor Rubio, leased by hin
several months ago, is a mansion foI
an aristocrat But that, it is possible
to announce authoritatively, is untrue
1t is the sort of house the average we'll
to-do business man in the United State