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40 - Insurgent Mexico by John Reed · Insurgent Mexico

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  Speaker 1: Section thirty nine of Insurgent Mexico. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Insurgent
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  Speaker 1: Mexico by John Reid, Part five Carranza An impression. When
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  Speaker 1: the Treaty of Peace was signed in Noarees, which ended
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  Speaker 1: the Revolution of nineteen ten, Francisco Madero proceeded south toward
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  Speaker 1: Mexico City. Everywhere he spoke to enthusiastic and triumphant throngs
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: of peons who acclaimed him the liberator. In Chihuahua, he
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: addressed the people from the balcony of the Governor's palace.
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  Speaker 1: As he told of the hardships endured and the sacrifices
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  Speaker 1: made by the little band of men who had overthrown
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  Speaker 1: the dictatorship of Diaz forever, he was overcome with emotion.
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  Speaker 1: Reaching inside the room, he pulled out a tall bearded
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  Speaker 1: man of commanding presence, and throwing his arm about his shoulder,
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  Speaker 1: he said, in a voice choked with tears, this is
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  Speaker 1: a good man. Love and honor him always. It was
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  Speaker 1: Venustiano Carranza, a man of upright life and high ideals.
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  Speaker 1: An aristocrat descended from the dominant Spanish race, a great landowner,
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  Speaker 1: as his family had always been great landowners, and one
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  Speaker 1: of those Mexican nobles who, like a few French nobles
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: such as Lafayette in the French Revolution, threw themselves heart
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  Speaker 1: and soul into the struggle for liberty. When the Madero
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  Speaker 1: Revolution broke out, Carranza took the field in truly medieval fashion.
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  Speaker 1: He armed the peons who worked upon his great estates
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  Speaker 1: and led them to war like any feudal overlord, and
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  Speaker 1: when the revolution was done, Madero made him governor of Coahuila.
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  Speaker 1: There he was when Madero was murdered at the capitol,
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  Speaker 1: and Huerta, seizing the presidency, sent as circular letter to
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  Speaker 1: the governors of the different states ordering them to acknowledge
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  Speaker 1: the new dictatorship. Caranza refused even to answer the letter,
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  Speaker 1: declaring that he would have no dealings with a murderer
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  Speaker 1: and a usurper. He issued a proclamation calling the Mexican
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  Speaker 1: people to arms, proclaiming himself first chief of the revolution
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  Speaker 1: and inviting the friends of liberty to rally around him.
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  Speaker 1: Then he marched out from his capital and took the field,
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  Speaker 1: where he assisted in the early fighting around Torreon. After
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  Speaker 1: a short time, Caranza marched his force from Couahuila, where
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  Speaker 1: things were happening, straight across the Republic into the state
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of Sonora, where nothing was happening. Villa had begun heavy
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: fighting in Chihuahua State, wor Bina and Errera in Durango Blanco,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and others in Couahuila and Gonzales near Tampico. In times
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: of upheaval like these, it is inevitable that there shall
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: be some preliminary squabbling over the ultimate spoils of war
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: among the military leaders. However, there was no such dissension,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Via having just been unanimously elected General chief of the
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  Speaker 1: Constitutionalist Army by a remarkable gathering of all the independent
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  Speaker 1: guerrilla leaders before Torreon, an unheard of event in Mexican history.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: But over in Sonora, my Terena and Pisquiera were already
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: squabbling over who should be governor of the state and
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: threatening revolutions against each other. Kranza's reported purpose in crossing
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: to the west with his army was to settle this dispute,
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: but that doesn't seem possible. Other explanations are that he
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: desired to secure a seaport for the constitutionalists on the west,
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  Speaker 1: that he wanted to settle the Yaqui land question, and
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: that in the quiet of a comparatively peaceful state he
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  Speaker 1: could better organize the provisional government of the new Republic.
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  Speaker 1: He remained there six months, apparently doing nothing whatever, keeping
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  Speaker 1: a force of more than six thousand good fighters practically inoperative,
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  Speaker 1: attending banquets and bull fights, establishing and celebrating innumerable new
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  Speaker 1: national holidays, and issuing proclamations. His army twice or three
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  Speaker 1: times as big as the disheartened garrisons of Guaimas and
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  Speaker 1: masat Lan, kept up a lazy siege of those places.
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  Speaker 1: Mazat Lan fell only a short time ago, I think,
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  Speaker 1: as did Guimas only a few weeks ago. Provisional Governor
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  Speaker 1: my Torena was threatening counter revolutions against General Alvardo, chief
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  Speaker 1: of Arms of Sonora, because he would not guarantee the
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  Speaker 1: governor's safety, and evidently proposing to upset the revolution because
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  Speaker 1: Mai Torena was uncomfortable in the palace at Almosillo. During
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  Speaker 1: all that time, not a word was said about any
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  Speaker 1: aspect of the land question, as far as I could learn,
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  Speaker 1: the Yaqui Indi means the expropriation of whose lands is
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  Speaker 1: the blackest spot in the whole black history of the
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: Diaz regime got nothing but a vague promise. Upon that
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  Speaker 1: the whole tribe joined the revolution, But a few months
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  Speaker 1: later most of them went back to their homes and
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  Speaker 1: began again their hopeless campaign against the white man. Carranza
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  Speaker 1: hibernated until early in the spring of this year, when
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the purpose of his Sonora sojourn evidently having been accomplished,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: he turned his face toward the territory where the real
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  Speaker 1: revolution was being fought. Within that six months, the aspect
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  Speaker 1: of things had entirely changed, except for the northern part
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  Speaker 1: of Nuevo Leon and most of Coahuila, Northern Mexico was
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  Speaker 1: constitutionalist territory almost from sea to sea, and Villa, with
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  Speaker 1: a well armed, well disciplined force of ten thousand men,
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  Speaker 1: was entering on the Torreon campaign. All this was accomplished
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  Speaker 1: almost single handed by Villa. Kranza seems to have contributed
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  Speaker 1: nothing but congratulations. He had indeed formed a provisional government.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: An immense throng of opportunist politicians surrounded the First Chief,
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  Speaker 1: loud in their protestations of devotion to the cause, liberal
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  Speaker 1: with proclamations, and extremely jealous of each other and of Villa.
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  Speaker 1: Little by little, Caranza's personalities seemed to be engulfed in
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  Speaker 1: the personality of his cabinet, although his name remained as
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  Speaker 1: prominent as ever. It was a curious situation. Correspondents who
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  Speaker 1: were with him during these months have told me how
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  Speaker 1: secluded the First Chief finally became. They almost never saw him,
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: very rarely did they speak with him. Various secretaries, officials,
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  Speaker 1: cabinet members stood between them and him, Polite, diplomatic, devious
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen who transmitted their questions to Karansa on paper and
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  Speaker 1: brought them back his ans answers written out so that
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: there would be no mistake. But whatever he did, Carnza
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  Speaker 1: left Villa strictly alone to undergo defeats if he must,
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  Speaker 1: or make mistakes, so much so that Villa himself was
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  Speaker 1: forced to deal with foreign powers as if he were
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  Speaker 1: the head of the government. There is no doubt that
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: the politicians at Rmosillo sought in every way to make
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  Speaker 1: Caranza jealous of Villa's growing power in the north. In
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  Speaker 1: February the first Chief began a leisurely journey northward, accompanied
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: by three thousand troops, with the ostensible object of sending
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  Speaker 1: reinforcements to Villa and of making his provisional capital in Nouarees.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: When Villa left for Torreon, two correspondents, however, who had
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: been in Sonora, told me that the officers of this
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  Speaker 1: immense bodyguard believed that they were to be sent against
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  Speaker 1: Villa himself. In Rmosillo, Carnza had been remote from the
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  Speaker 1: world's new centers. No one knew but what he might
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  Speaker 1: be accomplishing great things. But when the first Chief of
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  Speaker 1: the Revolution began to move toward the American border, the
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  Speaker 1: attention of the world was concentrated upon him, And the
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  Speaker 1: attention of the world revealed so little to concentrate upon
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  Speaker 1: that rumors rapidly spread of the non existence of Karansa.
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  Speaker 1: For example, one paper said that he was insane, and
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  Speaker 1: another alleged that he had disappeared altogether. I was in
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  Speaker 1: Chihwawa at the time. My paper wired me these rumors
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  Speaker 1: and ordered me to go and find Karansa. It was
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: at the immensely exciting time of the Benton murder. All
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  Speaker 1: the protestations and half veiled threats of the British and
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  Speaker 1: American governments converged upon Villa. But by the time I
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: had received the message, Karanza in his cabinet, had arrived
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  Speaker 1: at the border and broke in the six months silence
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  Speaker 1: in a startling way. The First Chief's declaration to the
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  Speaker 1: State Department was practically this, you have made a mistake
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  Speaker 1: in addressing representations in the Benton case to General Villa.
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  Speaker 1: They should be addressed to me, as first Chief of
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  Speaker 1: the Revolution and head of the provisional Constitutionalist government. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: the United States has no business to address even to
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  Speaker 1: me any representations concerning Benton, who was a British subject.
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  Speaker 1: I have received no envoy from the Government of Great Britain.
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  Speaker 1: Until I do, I will make no answer to the
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  Speaker 1: representations of any other government. Meanwhile, a thorough investigation will
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  Speaker 1: be made of the circumstances of Benton's death, and those
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  Speaker 1: responsible for it will be judged strictly according to law.
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  Speaker 1: End At the same time, Via received a pretty plain
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: intimation that he was to keep out of international affairs,
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: and Via gratefully shut up. That was the situation when
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I went to Nogales, Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: really form one big straggling town. The international boundary runs
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: along the middle of the street, and at a small
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  Speaker 1: customs house lounge a few rugged Mexican sentries, smoking interminable
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  Speaker 1: cigarettes and evidently interfering with nobody except to collect export
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  Speaker 1: taxes from everything that passes to the American side. The
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: inhabitants of the American town go across the line to
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  Speaker 1: get good things to eat, to gamble, to dance, and
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  Speaker 1: to feel free. The Mexicans crossed to the American side
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  Speaker 1: when somebody is after them. I arrived at midnight and
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  Speaker 1: went at once to a hotel in the Mexican town,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: where the cabinet and most of the political hangers on
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  Speaker 1: of CARNSA were staying sleeping, for in a room, on cots,
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  Speaker 1: in the corridors, on the floor, and even on the stairs.
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  Speaker 1: I was expected a temperamental constitutionalist console up the line,
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  Speaker 1: to whom I had explained my errand evidently considered it
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  Speaker 1: of great importance, for he had telegraphed to Nogales that
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: the entire fate of the Mexican Revolution depended upon mister
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Reed's seeing the first Chief of the revolution. Immediately upon
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: his arrival, however, everybody had gone to sleep, and the proprietor,
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  Speaker 1: routed out of his back office, said that he hadn't
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  Speaker 1: the slightest idea what the names of any of the
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen were or where they slept. Yes, he said he
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: had heard that Carnza was in town. We went around,
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  Speaker 1: kicking doors and Mexicans until we stumbled upon an unshaven
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  Speaker 1: but courteous gentleman who said that he was the collector
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  Speaker 1: of customs for the whole of Mexico under the new government.
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  Speaker 1: He waked up in turn the Secretary of the Navy,
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  Speaker 1: who routed out the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of the Treasury finally flushed the Secretary of Acienda, who
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: finally brought us to the room of the Secretary of
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  Speaker 1: Foreign Relations, Signor Isidro Fabela. Sennor Fabla said that the
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  Speaker 1: first Chief had retired and couldn't see me, but that
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  Speaker 1: he himself would give me immediately a statement of just
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: what Caranza thought about the Benton incident. Now, none of
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  Speaker 1: the newspapers had ever heard of Seignor Fabela before. They
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: were all clamoring to their correspondents, wanting to know who
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  Speaker 1: he was. He seemed to be such an important member
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  Speaker 1: of the provisional government, and yet his antecedents were not
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  Speaker 1: known at all. At different times he apparently filled most
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  Speaker 1: of the positions of the First Chief's cabinet. Rather medium
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  Speaker 1: height and distinguished, looking, suave, courteous, and evidently very well educated.
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  Speaker 1: His face was decidedly Jewish. We talked for a long time,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: sitting on the edge of his bed. He told me
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  Speaker 1: what the First Chief's aims and ideals were, but in
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  Speaker 1: them I could discern nothing of the First Chief's personality whatever. Oh, yes,
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: he said, of course I could see the First Chief
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: in the morning. Of course he would receive me. But
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: when we came right down to cases, Signor Fabela told
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  Speaker 1: me that the First Chief would answer no questions outright.
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: They had all to be put in writing, he said,
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  Speaker 1: and submitted to Fabela first. He would then take them
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  Speaker 1: to Caranza and bring back his answer accordingly. The next
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  Speaker 1: morning I wrote out on paper about twenty five questions
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  Speaker 1: and gave them to Fabela. He read them carefully. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: he said, there are many questions here that I know
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  Speaker 1: the first Chief will not answer. I advise you to
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: strike them out. Well. If he doesn't answer them, I said,
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  Speaker 1: I'll write, but I would like to give him a
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  Speaker 1: chance to see them. He could only refuse to answer them. No,
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  Speaker 1: said Fabela politely, you had better strike them out. Now.
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  Speaker 1: I know exactly what he will answer and what he
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  Speaker 1: will not. You see, some of your questions might prejudice
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  Speaker 1: him against answering all the rest, and you would not
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  Speaker 1: want that to occur, would you, Senor Fabela, I said,
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  Speaker 1: are you sure that you know just what Don Venustiano
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: won't answer? I know that he won't answer these, he replied,
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: indicating four or five which dealt rather specifically with the
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: platform of the Constitutionalist government, such as land distribution, direct
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: elections and the right of suffrage among the Pians. I
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: will bring back your answers in twenty four hours, he said. Now,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: I will take you to see the Chief, but you
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: must promise me this that you will not ask him
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  Speaker 1: any questions. That you will simply go into the room,
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  Speaker 1: shake hands with him and say how do you do
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  Speaker 1: and leave again immediately. I promised, and together with another reporter,
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: followed him across the square to the beautiful little yellow
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: municipal palace. We stood awhile on the patio. The place
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: was thronged with self important Mexicans, buttonholing other self important Mexicans,
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: who rushed from door to door with portfolios and bundles
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: of papers. Occasionally, when the door of the Department of
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: the Secretary Ship opened, a roar of typewriters smote our ears.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Officers in uniform stood about on the portico waiting for orders.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: General Obregon, commander of the Army of Sonora, was outlining
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: in a loud voice the plans for his march south
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: upon Guadalajara. He started for Hermosillo three days afterward, and
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: marched his army four hundred miles through a friendly country
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: in three months. Although Obregon had shown no startling capacity
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: for leadership, Carnza had made him General in chief of
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the Army of the Northwest, with a rank equal to Villa's.
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  Speaker 1: Talking to him was a stout, red haired Mexican woman
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: in a black satin princess dress embroidered with jet with
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: a sword at her side. She was Colonel Ramona Flores,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: chief of staff to the constitutionalist General Carrasco, who operates
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: in Tepik. Her husband had been killed while an officer
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: in the First Revolution, leaving her a gold mine with
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: the proceeds of which she had raised a regiment and
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: taken the field. Against the wall lay two sacks of
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: gold ingots, which she had brought north to purchase arms
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and uniforms for her troops. Polite American concession seekers shifted
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: from one foot to the other, had in hand the
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: ever present arms and ammunition. Drummers poured into the ears
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: of whoever would listen praises of their guns and bullets.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: Four armed sentries stood at the palace doors, and others
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: lounged around the patio. There were no more in sight
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: except two who flanked a little door half way down
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the corridor. These men seemed more intelligent than the others.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: Anybody who passed was scrutinized carefully, and those who paused
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: out at the door were questioned according to some thorough formula.
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: Every two hours this guard was changed. The relief was
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: in charge of a general, and a long colloquy took
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: place before the change was effected. What room is that,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I asked, Signor Fabela. That is the office of the
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: first chief of the revolution, he answered. I waited for
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: perhaps an hour, and during that time I noticed that
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: nobody entered the room except Signor Fabela and those he
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: took with him. Finally, he came over to me and said,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: all right, the first chief will see you. Now we
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: followed him. The soldiers on guard threw up their rifles.
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: Who are these signores? Asked one. It's all right, they
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: are friends, answered Fabela, and opened the door. It was
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: so dark within that at first we could see nothing
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: over the two windows, blinds were drawn. On one side
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: was a bed still unmade, and on the other a
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: small table covered with papers, upon which stood a tray
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: containing the remains of breakfast. A tin bucketful of ice
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: with two or three bottles of wine stood in a corner.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: As our eyes became accustomed to the light, we saw
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: the gigantic, khaki clad figure of Don Venustiano Caranza sitting
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: in a big chair. There was something strange in the
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: way he sat there, with his hands on the arms
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: of the chair, as if he had been placed in
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: it and told not to move. He did not seem
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: to be thinking, nor to have been working. You couldn't
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: imagine him at that table, you got the impression of
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: a vast, inert body, a statue. He rose to meet us,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: a towering figure seven feet tall. It seemed I noticed
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: with a kind of shock that in that dark room
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: he wore smoked glasses, and although ruddy and full cheeked,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: I felt that he was not well. The thing you
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: feel about tuberculosis patience. That tiny dark room where the
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: first chief of the revolution slept and ate and worked,
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: and from which he hardly ever emerged, seemed too small,
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: like a cell. Fabela had entered with us. He introduced
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: us one by one to Caranza, who smiled a vacant,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: expressionless smile, bowed slightly, and shook our hands. We all
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: sat down. Indicating the other reporter, who could not speak Spanish.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: Fabela said, these gentlemen have come to greet you on
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: behalf of the great newspapers which they represent. This gentleman
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: says that he desires to present his respectful wishes for
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: your success. Caranza bowed again slightly and rose as Fabela
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: stood up, as if to indicate that the interview was over.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: Allow me to assure the gentlemen, he said, of my
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: grateful acceptance of their good wishes. Again, we all shook hands.
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: But as I took his hand, I said in Spanish,
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Senor Don Venustiano, my paper is your friend and the
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: friend of the constitutionalists. He stood there as before, a
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: huge mask of a man. But as I spoke, he
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: stopped smiling. His expression remained as vacant as before. But
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: suddenly he began to speak. To the United States, I say,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: the Benton case is none of your business. Benton was
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: a British subject. I will answer to the delegates of
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Great Britain when they come to me with representations of
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: their government. Why should they not come to me. England
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: now has an ambassador in Mexico City who accepts invitations
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: to dinner from Wuerta, takes off his hat to him
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: and shakes hands with him. When Madero was murdered, the
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: foreign powers flocked to the spot like vultures to the dead,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: and fond upon the murderer, because they had a few
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: subjects in the Republic who were petty tradesmen doing a
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: dirty little business. The first Chief ended as abruptly as
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: he had begun, with the same immobility of expression. But
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: he clenched and unclenched his hands and not his mustaches.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Fabela hurriedly made a move toward the door. The gentlemen
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: are very grateful to you for having received them, he
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: said nervously, But Don Venustiano paid no attention to him.
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Suddenly he began again, his voice pitched a little higher
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: and louder. These cowardly nations thought they could secure advantages
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: by standing in with the government of the usurper. But
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: the rapid advancement of the Constitutionalists showed them their error,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: and now they find themselves in a predicament. Fabela was
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: plainly nervous. When does the Torreon campaign begin, he asked,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: attempting to change the subject. The killing of Benton was
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: due to a vicious attack on Villa by an enemy
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: of the revolutionists, roared the first Chief, speaking louder and
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: louder and more rapidly. And England, the bully of the world,
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: finds herself unable to deal with us unless she humiliates
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: herself by sending a representative to the Constitutionalists. So she
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: tried to use the United States as a cat's paw.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: More shame to the United States, he cried, shaking his fists,
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: that she allowed herself to join with these infamous powers.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: The unhappy Fabela made another attempt to damn the dangerous torrent,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: but Carnza took a step forward and, raising his arms, shouted,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: I tell you that if the United States intervenes in
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Mexico upon this petty excuse, intervention will not accomplish what
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: it thinks, but will provoke a war which, besides its
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: own consequences, will deepen a profound hatred between the United
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: States and the whole of Latin America, a hatred which
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: will endanger the entire political future of the United States.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: He ceased, talking on a rising note, as if something
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: inside had cut off his speech. I tried to think
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: that here was a voice of aroused Mexico, thundering at
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: her enemies, but it seemed like nothing so much as
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: a slightly senile old man, tired and irritated. Then we
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: were outside in the sunlight, with Signor Fabela agitatedly telling
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: me not to publish what I had heard, or at
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: least to let him see the dispatch. I stayed at
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Nogalas a day or two longer. The next day, after
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: my interview, the typewritten paper upon which my questions had
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: been printed was returned to me. The answers written in
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: five different handwritings. Newspaper men were in high favorite Nogales.
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: They were treated always with the utmost courtesy by the
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: members of the provisional Cabinet, but they never seemed to
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: reach the first chief. I tried often to get from
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: these cabinet members the least expression of what their plans
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: were for the settlement of the troubles which caused the
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: revel but they seem to have none except a constitutional government.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: During all the times I talked with them, I never
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: detected one gleam of sympathy for or understanding of the peons.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: Now and again I surprised quarrels about who was going
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: to fill the high posts of the new Mexican government.
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: Villa's name was hardly ever mentioned. When it was, it
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: was in this manner. We have every confidence in Villa's
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: loyalty and obedience as a fighting man. Villa has done
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: very well, very well, indeed, but he should not attempt
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: to mingle in the affairs of government, because, of course,
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: you know, Via is only an ignorant peon. He has
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: said many foolish things and made many mistakes, which we
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: will have to remedy, and scarcely a day passed. But
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: what Caransa would give out a statement from headquarters. There
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: is no misunderstanding between General Villa and myself. He obeys
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: my orders without question, as any common soldier. It is
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: unthinkable that he would do anything else. I spent a
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: good deal of time loafing around the municipal palace, but
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: I never saw Carnza again. But once it was towards
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: sunset and most of the generals, drummers and politicians had
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: gone to dinner, I lounged on the edge of the
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: fountain in the middle of the patio, talking with some soldiers.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: Suddenly the door of that little office opened, and Carnza
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: himself stood framed in it, arms hanging loosely by his sides,
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: his fine old head thrown back as he stared blindly
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: over our heads across the wall to the flaming clouds
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: in the west. We stood up and bowed, but he
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: didn't notice us. Walking with slow steps, he came out
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: and went along the portico toward the door of the palace.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: The two guards presented arms. As he passed. They shouldered
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: their rifles and fell in behind him. At the doorway.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: He stopped and stood there a long time, looking out
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: on the street. The four sentries jumped to attention. The
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: two men behind him grounded their arms and stopped. The
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: first chief of the Revolution clasped his hands behind his back,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: his fingers working violently. Then he turned and, pacing between
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the two guards, went back to the little dark room
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: end of section thirty nine.