The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 3, 1904, Page 6

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. RESIDENCE. OF FERES DIAZ RFIRIO DIAZ wor of guite sub- ng has it, that evolént des- ighbors, is at td end his oR or-a& vel, it will n point of énd some oth- sctive 1 change of s be dist view of t ers.” One not _the step pror to be se Interesting. At last th s we are to have'an answer to the ¢ n wkich-has puz- zled so ma. critics during the last decad e peare and prog- Tess of the sister republic due to the fear which Diaz's despotic sway has in- spired, or are the Mexicens really in- creasing in political wisdom and stat- ure? The ¢lose observers of current events, those who read the shadows which they cast before them, say that an answer will be given ig these speculations within three mon when Diaz_con- cludés his sixth P al term and places tk ‘which he has held so-strc ce the centen. mial year of 1876, in the hands of an- other. 2 It is not hard to understand why he cares no longer to linger on the scene from which one by one his contempéra- ries have vanished, for Diaz is not of our generation, but belongs to the-class of Titans who have gone, leaving be- hind them such spacious ancies, He began to make history about the same time that Bismarck did and Gladstone and Garibaldi. Grant and Pope Leo were of his class. He came into'power born of civil strife and foreign inva- sion. He has wn what it was to starve in New -Orleans, apparently a discredited revolutionist, and to be hunted like a lone wolf through the lonely slerra by the powers:that were. He has been saved a score of times by the mettle of his horse and by the strength of his swimming and by the ascendency of his star, in which his countrymen are not without reason for belleving, for in this way he escaped from a filibustering vessel off Vera Cruz, which shortly afterward foun- dered and went down with all on board. Since 1834, however, the life of the “amiable despot” has been singularly calm and unexciting, though not un- eventful. But the path of unalloyed prosperity may have begun to pall THE upon Dfaz's active mind. Many rea- sons are givem for his announced abdi- cation. ‘The one that appeals to me is the explanation that he is bored and perhaps consumed by his curlos}!y to know what will happen In the Iand that he has recoristructed after his an- nouneed sgelf-effacement is accom- plished. Some. of the practical aspects.of the political situation in our next door neighbor’s house, where we have eighty thousand fellow-citizens and perhaps a thousand.million dollars out on investment to look after, will well repay. attentlon, and it would be like picking money up in the street to know without the peradventure of a doubt who is going to take up the suc- cession, whether the course is to be the same or a new one, which in Mex- oo is the old, leading to civil war and bankruptcy. Two names alone are mentioned, that of Limantour, the able, up-to-date financier, and Bernardo Reyes, a ‘general of somewhat anti- quated, if not positively reactionary ideas. But for the present 1 would have you take a look at Diaz. It may be one of parting. If you would see Diaz to best advan- tage I would say go to his office, the little room in which all political wires by means of which he rules the coun- try converge. It is in the somewhat ungainly, not to say ugly, building that is known as the National Palace, and stands In the great open square of Mexico City above the ruins of an Az- tec shrine. You must be very careful what kind of a cab you take when you drive to the palace. Pedestrians stand no chance of admission, and a blue-colored cab is distinguised, a red one is only respectable, while a yellow one, lowest in the category, is liable to land you in the smalipox hospital and not in the presence of the despot. There is a long stairway of honor, with a number of sentries, who will present arms If they like the cut of your back coat; then a long gallery, musical with crystal chandellers and stuffy with heavy hangings. The place has no in- dividual note; it is cosmopolitan. You might be In the antechamber of & Chi- nese mandarin or a Warl-street mag- nate, or merely strolling around the corridor of & somewhat flashy summer hotel. This place is called in Mexico “The Inflerno,” which I will not trans- late, because the word is not admitted, in our composing room. “The Inflerno” is crowded, always crowded, and cosmopolitan. Americans, Mexicans, Indians and Chinese crowd there, for the President is an amiable man and gives more audiences in a day than he can possibly receive in a month. All the clients stand around and hobnob and gesticulate. “The Pres- ident has just sent for me,” says one in his particular lingo. And another takes up the cry: ‘““He sent for me last year, but I've never seen him yet. I'm caughf in the Inflerno.” Suddenly the conversation dies away end you almost hear the palpitations of many anxious hearts. A uniformed officer striped and barred like an oriole has . appeared in the doorway. He reads with a somewhat supercilious smile the list of the chosen. Those who are summoned pass with him beyond the curtain, one step nearer the repub- lican throne. The disappointed and the disgusted remain behind in “The Inflerno” until the rattle of the Presi- dent's carrlage and the clanking har- ness of his mounted guards tell them that business is over for the day and that the benevolent despot of Mexico has gone to take his ease at Chapul- tepec. However, instead of finding them- selves In the presence of the President, those who paesed the curtain merely enter a second gallery, locally “The Purgatorio,” Here there is another walt and another selection, another reading aloud of the fortunate names. Many a man gets no further than “The Pur- gatorio,” and must, when hunger of time presses, return to the outer world through “The Inflerno.” But we will follow the twice chosen and selected into a large room, where the Presi- dent’s military staff are sauntering ebout. Then if you are lucky you go into his presence. Mexico calls the place “Heaven,” and it is hung with red damask, Interwoven and embossed with Mexican eagles, over which can still be seen the imperfal crown ' that poor Carlotta placed there in the hey- day of her dream of empire, before the grave closed over Maximilian and the doors of the madhouse upon her own distraught mind. Throughout the busi- ness hours Dias sits there, with his face always in the shadow and yours always in the light. He looks you over, the shrewd old man, and you can read the onethought that for the moment is uppermost in his mind. What can this man teach me? What does he know that it would be well for me to learn? If on inspec- tion the ofitlook does not promise profit in knowledge to the shrewd old Oaxaca Indian who has made himself more powerful than many kings he soeve will Jet you go with a hand shake that passes for “English” on the French stage. But if you inspire interest the interview may prove very long; one hour, two hours, and even three they have been known to last, while the other clients hungered and thirsted in “The Inflerno.” You may teach the President many things or merely prove to him that you are a chatter- box; but one thing is quite certain, he will not talk himself except about the sleeping cars in the United States. Less than any other man I have ever maet is he given to making confidences. It is hardly necessary to say any- thing about Jose Ives Limantour, be- cause he is personally so well knewn in New York. If he becomes Presi- dent the ruler of our neighbors across the Rio Grande will be a habitue of our best clubs and in close personal touch with our leading 'men. He speaks English without an accent and knows the United States like the palm of his hand. You regard him as more than half American until you meet him in Paris, when you would swear that he had never left France in his life. This adaptability, or rather this ability (which is given to few Mex- icans) to pass for an American in New York and a Frenchman on the boule- vards, is a heavy political handlicap to the suffrages of the Mexicans which Limantour couid not hope to contend against without the very decided sup- port.of Diaz. How long Limantour could maintain himself in power is a question upon which those expert in Mexican condi- tions never can agree, and perhaps it is wisest to await the course of events. He can never become President with- out the sanction of Diaz. Yet, doubt- less, as long as as he lives Diaz can keep his man or his puppet on the throne. Yet he must die some time; even the Oaxaca Indians, though famed for their longevity, in.the end go the way of all flesh. The benevolent despot is now at least 76 years old,” probably v WARE | Ovy OF mexi<s TBE COLORED GUAJSS CORRIDOR OF THE FALACE % older, and the question whether Lim- antour could stand alone is one that may at any day become urgent. It is, of course, perfectly possible that he may develop qualities suited to the new conditions and prove as suo- cessful in politics as he has in finance. A few years ago when he came to New York everybody in Mexico as well in ‘Wall street said it would do him god —that is, his health—but as for the avowed purpose of his visit, the nego- tiation of a loan, he might as well spare himself the pains of trying. Wall street, it was asserted, had never yet made a loan to a foreign government, and was not likely to begin with Mex- ico. However, Limantour secured the loan, and he may be able to conjure the want of confidence which the great majority of Mexicans entertain toward him in the same way that he succeed- ed in dispelling the suspiclons of our banking magnates. 3 Even his friends admit that the ab- sence of Indlan bloed tells heavily against Diaz's candidate In the scale of popularity. He not only wears a coat with apparent comfort, but he ‘wears it like a foreigner, and it is hard for the Mexicans of the lower class to forgive him this. Of course, every for- eigner, whether resident or merely an investor, Is Interested in his taking up the Diaz succession, an Interest which I have often thought is not helpful to his chances. It can be sald that all the Americans and English, who are conducting the great railway and min- ing enterprises; the Germans and French, with their small trade which at the end of the year bulks =0 large, and the thrifty emigrants from North Spain, the Catalans and the Basques are for Limantour to a man. And, of course, there are a certain number of enlightened Mexicans who recognize that the prosperity of the country dur- ing the last few years is due in a large measure to the commercial and in- dustrial invasion of foreiguers, and that if these latter have accumulated much wealth they have also developed immensely-the resources of the country. But it would be idle to deny that & large—a very large—majority of the people take_a very different view of the situation. They regard the increas- ing wealth and the growing number of the forelgners with jealous eyes. And while he has been careful not to- iden- tify himself openly with their platform 1t is quite apparent that General Reyes is the candidate of all those who belleve in a pollcy of practical exclusion—that is, Mexico for the Mexicans. * Two years ago, when Reyes was ap- parently in high favor, he was sud- denly dlsmissed from the Ministry of. War and practically exiled to the re- mote State of Nuevo Leon. The Gov- ernorship of this place, which was as- signed him, could not well have been more unimportant, and it was soon noticed that even here whatever pow- er there was fell to the subordinate chiefs who nominally werked under him. He was a prisoner on parole rather than a Governor. There can be ¥® doubt that much popular sym- pathy followed Reyes as he went to his unimportant and isolated place. It was generally belleved, and he cér- tainly did nothing to discredit the be- llef, that he had- fallen because he opposed the further extension ef for- eign Influence in the country. There was another story to this effect: Dias had offered him the succession pro- vided he would agree at the end of one term in office to step aside in fa- vor of Po: Diaz Jr., who by this time would have reached the eligible age. Reyes is supposed to have an- swered that the elections, the ballots of his fellow countrymen, must de- cide. Upon this followed his disgrace and the elevation of Limantour to the position of heir apparent. Since that time Limantour, enly Minister of Finance in name, has not confined his activity to fiscal matters. More and more he has been taken into the confide of his chief, and one by one the benevolent despot has unloaded his burd upon younger shoulders. To-day, the instance of Diaz himself, an amendment to the constitution is being railroaded through the docile Legislature pro- viding for a Vice President, who is further permitted to hold another of- fice. It does not require the sight which penetrates millstones to recog- nize what Diaz has In view, though whether he will carry it out Is quite & different matter. At present his purpose is apparently to appeint Limantour Vice President and yet allow him to retain the Treas- ury portfolio. He is to be, in fact, if not in name, the Regent while Dlaz is away In Europe, this temporary ar- rangement to become permanent in case it works well, or when the tireless brain of the. great Mexican politiclan is stilled in death. The chances are, I think, in favor of peace and an adjustment of political rivalries and Presidentlal ambitions within the law, especially should Dias long survive his withdrawal from pub- llc affairs. During the last twenty- five years in no country of the world has the material prosperity of the peo- ple increased at such a rapid rate as In Mexico, and in a large measure this change is due to the fostering care and the tireless activity of the Dictator. He found them a people dependent upom donkeys and mules for transportation and confined as to their wants and their activities to their respective pueblos. Under his direction and prin- cipally owing to his encouragement tem thousand miles of extremely difficult railways have been built, and to-day the Mexican can and does buy large- ly in the markets of the world. This in a sentence, is the story of Diax's long term in the Presidential chalr from 1876 down to the present day. A new generation is growing up; the young men of to-day are of the same blood as were the tireless banditt! gene erals of the last generation. . The raw« ages of the revolutionary period, though now remote, were so terrible that it is.hard to belleve that they have been forgotten. To-day undoubt- edly the great, the very great, majori- ty of Mexicans want enly peace, at home and abroad. It remains to be seen, however, whether, ence the oun- ning hand and the cool head that has guided them, so long Is removed, they will be able to cope as successfully as he has done with an unruly, lawless minority. Even Diaz’s enlightened rule did not rezch the height which the mustering out of the army would Indicate. But he has done the next best thing to that, and counterbalanced in a measure the danger offone army by having two. I refer to the rurales, the mounted con- stabulary, who patrol Mexico from end to end, who swear by Diaz and have no love for the army proper, because they frequently come in conflict with its prerogatives. These men, if only from enlightened self-interest, are apt to oppose the narrow, exclusive policy with which Reyes is generally credited, and to combat resolutely the Indlan supremacy of the army. One thing, however, is certain, should, as some prophesy, neither Reyes nor Limantour follow upon Diaz, but anarchy and con- fusion, owing to the presence of our people in Mexico to the number of 75,- 000 and owing to our investments there, which have been estimated as high as $1,000,000,000, we shall not be able to stand aside as disinterestedly as we surveyed the revolution of the '70's, out of which Diaz, the man of destiny, emerged. Mexico has become not oply geographically, but in a deeper sense of the word, our next door neighbor. No radical change in the course of affalrg down there can leave us indifferent. Sonora and Chihuahua are practically American to-day. Perhaps they, too, are destined to follow the example of Texas and New' Mexico and come une der the flag. STEPHEN BONSAL.