The Gisborne Times. PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1911.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 3229, 27 May 1911, Page 6

The Gisborne Times . PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING, SATURDAY, MAY 27, 1911.

According to a cable message which came to hand this Diaz Resigns! morning, Diaz has resigned the presidency of Mexico. Wliat will be the immediate result of this important happening it is difficult to say. One would imagine that it will hasten the advent of peace very considerably. From all accounts, however, it is evident that anything but a happy state of affairs now exists in Mexico. A student of s American politics at present in the colonies states that- the republic organised .by Diaz has really never been anything else but a farce. The elections (we are told) have never pretended to be free nor tlie counts honest. Then, again, court proceedings have been most irregular, and all attempts to improve matters have been made futile by rotten methods of application. Why? The authority to which we allude avers that these tactics have been used in the interests of United States financiers, and through them financiers in Europe. For several years, he continues, trades unions have not been allowed to exist on any terms. Abuses of all kinds have originated with the authorities, and have been enforced by them. Men have actually been imprisoned for no other offence than trying to organise labor, and they have been imprisoned without trial, and either starved or slain. It is even affirmed that under a rule of monopoly the people of Mexico have been exploited probably more infamously than in the case, of any modern State. That the position is far from satisfactory is quite clear, for it will be recalled that Diaz himself promised material reforms. As regards the message sent by Diaz to Congress, Dr. Gomez, head of the confidential agency of the revolutionaries at Washington, recently said:— “The message confesses that the principle of no ‘re-election’ of public offi-

■cei’s elected by s popular vote merits his 1 heartiest support. Next, General Diaz says that in order to avoid long tenure of office of certain public offices it is indispensable to revise the electoral Jaws, so as to insure electoral activity of all citizens capable of voting. Finally, General Diaz admits that the administration of justice is not good, nor is the responsibility of public officers effective, and for the purpose of remedying this state of affairs he proposes to initiate an investigation of these conditions. ” It will thus be seen that the real cause of the revolution was a hunger and thirst for justice. With conditions such as those outlined in force the marvel would appear to be that the people have delayed so long in attempting to throw off such a yoke of oppression. When peace has been restored the next problem, of course, will be: Who is to put reforms into effect? From the latest turn of events it may prove the case that the days of the Diaz regime have come to a n end. “There is no room for doubt," we are further told, “that the revolutionary party alone is entirely cognisant of the necessities of the people, and is the party which can and should carry out these reforms. Otherw.se it would be equivalent' to voluntarily delivering into the hands of the enemy all the benefits of the triumph and reducing the country to a worse condition than formerly.” These disclosures . will come as a surprise to many people, for Diaz had become known, as the result of his force of character and administrative ability as the “regenerator of Mexico.” There can be no doubt that he has proved a vigorous ruler, for since his advent to power the country has witnessed great expansion, whereas previously it was perhaps the most anarchical of Spanish-Amcrican States. The outcome as the re.su It of his resignation will be awaited with great interest.