Evening star., 1934-09-02
A NEW DAWN In MEXICO
BY FREDERIC J. HASKIN.

as conscious interiors: the MexicanS
Of the larger towns looked the white
man In the eye and regarded him
as an equal; the Medcans Of the
hills looked down on the white man,
considering him an inferior.
As the oppression of the great feudal
landlords and the church increased
with the years, the stronger spirits
rejected all contact and became ban
dts. Mexico became a savage, per-
petually armed state. 1t was Porfirio
Diaz who, after long effort, pacified
the country by bribing the bandits
TO become policemen. This left them
their arms, position of authority in
the land, and living. They became
the celebrated rurales. Power con-
tinued to be centralized. Legisla-
lures disappeared. In 1910, Porfirio
Diaz celebrated the centennial Of
Mexican independence. The great of
the world visited his capital to do
him honor. The bunting had scarcely
faded when the revolution broke.
Mr.. Tannenbaum says the revolu-
ton was anonymous. No one leader
stood out for long. The land was.
ruled by petty chieftains who stroye
to copy the absolutism Of Diaz. The
revolutionary movement, in actuality,
was the spontaneous combustion of
four centuries of varying expressions,
by masters Of both secular and &C.
clesiastical authorities.
Progress Of the Revolution.
Each step was experimental. "The
Madero rebellion" the book says, was
European and American rather than
Mexican. 1t concentrated upon the
old notion of political freedom and
equality" Gen. Mujica is quoted as
saying: "If Huerta had not DESTROYED
the Madero government we, the revo-
lutionists, would have had to do So"
That means the Madero revolutionists.
Madero, Carranza, Huerta-a remark
able line of leaders. idealistic and
violent-each gave the evolution of
the revolutionary movement a new
turn. The Villas, the Obregons-alI
the pageant Of operate figures-passed
in bloc review before a nation which
all the time was struggling toward
something not yet achieved. as a
plant, rooted in dark place, thrusts
through and around every obstacle
toward the light.
One figure stands out with extraor-
dinary clarity. It is that of Zapata,
the half-mythical being, now called
hero, now bandit, who swept out Of
the mountains like a flame to strike
with consummate skill in the interests
OF the people. He runs, like a gold
and-scarlet thread through the whole
tapestry, from the beginnings Of the
revolution to the end. If he thought
some new leader would serve the ma
tional interests, his phantom but i'm
mensely effective forces Joined that
leader; the moment he felt that
leader had turned from a straight
course, he and his forces left. On
one occasion he sent word: BE It
known to Senior Madero that we win
not lay down our arms until we
have recovered our lands"
Felix Palavac1ni, Mexican scholar
and soldier, divided the revolution into
four parts which he called the lyrical,
the warning, the social and the con-
structive. Mr.. Tannenbaums book
traces these stages and, in the end,
shows the extraordinary manner in
which the land hunger Of the Mexican
is being satisfied. The book Is a
panorama Of inner history, iIlumi-
mated, here and there, by astonishing
incidents. 1t goes far toward show
ing how Mexico has emerged from her
400 years Of depression-a depression
economic, social and spiritual.