Evening star., 1936-06-30
BY GORDON GORDON.


little shy and not at all the clustering
Mexican type of army general. Sat
in the Micnoacan State Palace as
governor here four years ago and
contemplated the day when he might
become president OF the republic and
extend some of the notable and drastic
reforms he had launched here.
Today. despite rebel outbreaks, re-
Ngious riots and the turmoil that his
plans for a socialistic state have stirred,
he is driving hard on a gigantic pro-
gram to place Mexico on an equal
plane with the United States, both
in Diplomacy and living conditions.
He is still shy and retiring and often
hesitant in conversation, but he acts
swiftly, boldly and rutnlessly. He
wears the mask of a dreaming ideal
ist. and his life is almost that o. an
ascetic. but he rules with the 1orce
OF Hitler.
Such is the man who may smash
through on one OF the mos fan
tastic experiments any government in
the world is attempting. and VINO may
become the dictator OF the first pow
erfuI proletariat in the Americas.
Crisis in Next Few Months.
The next few months of crises will
determine that. II ne emerges from
the bloody unrest which is now surg
ing over a part Of Mexico, he Will
become a kingpin among the minor
dictators of the world and the United
States will awaken to new Mexico
which will no longer be submissive TO
the whims of the colossus of the North.
President Cardenas is even more de-
termined than his predecessors to
build a Mexico for the MeXicans and
to end the domination OF the for
eigner in every field.
He is idolized here in his home
state of Michoacan.
He was a good governor" the man.
in-the-plaza says, and he is a good
President. He is honest and deeply
sincere but. more than that, he is one
of US
The peasant in MS thonged sandals
in HermosIllo believes tha,, a. ooeS
the Maya woman in her huipil in
Merida. His enemies grant that ne
Is pursuing the best course for Mexico.
Didn't he cut his own salary in
half when he was governor?' the
nan-in-the-plaza asks Didn't he re-
turn $4,000 pesos out of his 0,000-
peso expense account when he was
an army general? No one else ever
did that Didn't he refuse his own
congressman an increase in pay re-
Gently when they tried to raid the
treasury"
Appeals to Masses.
In a nation accustomed to tyran-
hical attitude on the part of its
politicians, Cardenas has cleverly
struck into the hearts of the masses
by travelling through the country on
horseback to talk with the peasants,
by speaking in such simple language
that even a child could understand
him. by driving an inexpensive auto
mobile, by refusing to stage the gilt
tering presidential balls of his prede-
cessors, by giving his son an Aztec
name and in other ways.
When he underwent an operation a
few weeks ago for appendicitis. he
insisted on being lodged in a ward
with other patients.
Certain of his reforms, too. have
penetrated to the root OF Mexican
life, especially in the mountain wilds
and jungles. Among these are:
l. His plan to improve the health
OF the isolated villages. He has al
ready sent brigades of physicians and
nurses into the hinterlands of
Yucatan, Guerrero and Morelos. They
have taught Indian tribesnen and
mestizos about sanitation and the uses
Of simple medicines and have tried to
encourage youths in the villages to |
study medicine or nursing. There are |!
some 500 towns in Mexico, each with |
a population of few thousand, where |
there are no physicians.
See, the President is helping me-"
a dying woman said in a little settle |
ment near here, who had been treated i
by one of the brigades mo one ever
thought of me before"
Farm Program Popular.
=. His program to get small farms |
for every Mexican agrarian. During
the last year, more than 1900 acres
were distributed to some 100000 |
families. This land was appropriated
from the public holdings of the gov
ernment and from the large haciendas.
While the division of the haciendas
still continues a stormy question,
more and more of the owners are
willingly agreeing to the plan, which
provides that only lands which have
not been used for several years and
which the hacienda does not need
to maintain its past production shall
be taken.
In country where oxen are used
Tor plowing, and all equipment is
wooden. the ministry of agriculture
is supplying more and more farmers
with free tools and machinery and |
is conducting schools in modern
farm methods. Mexico goes hungry
today because only per cent Of the
arabic land is cultivated each year,
and the yield per acre is far under
that Of the United States.
Cardenas is attempting to move
thousands out Of the over-populated
central plateau about Mexico City
and has established several extensive
farming projects for these new COL
oni2ers.
8 His extension of suffrage to
women. This was a radical move for
a country where even today in most
of the village lands the woman is ex-
pected to walk behind the burro on
which her husband is riding. For
centuries women have lived in vir-
tual domestic slavery in Mexico, and
only within the last few years have
q few bold ones dared to study law,
medicine, business and such subjects.
Womsn's Suffrage Move.
BY granting suffrage to women
Cardenas added q host of supporters
to his cause and more firmly en-
trenched himself, but the strategem