country ever had. Could anybody imagine Mr. Roosevelt being re-elected by a unanimous vote? Moreover, could anyone imagine a country of 15,000,000 souls in which ambition never stirred the heart of more than one individual with the desire to stand before the people as a candidate for the highest office in the nation?
And yet this is exactly the condition we find in Mexico. Eight times Don Porfirio has been seated as "president." Eight times he has been elected "unanimously." Never has an opponent stood against him at the polls.
And the story of the presidential succession is repeated in the states. Re-election without contest is a rule which has seen exceedingly few exceptions. The governor of the state holds office for life, unless for some reason he loses favor with Don Porfirio, which is seldom. A member of the Mexican upper class once put the situation to me quite aptly. Said he: "Death is the only anti-re-electionist in Mexico." The chief reason why the states are not governed by men who have been in office for thirty four years is because those who were first put in have died and it has become necessary to fill their places with others. As it is, Colonel Prospero Cahuantzi has ruled the State of Tlaxcala for the whole Porfirian period. General Aristeo Mercado has ruled the State of Michoacan for over twenty-five years. Teodoro Dehesa has governed the State of Veracruz for twenty-five years. When deposed in 1909, General Bernardo Reyes had governed the State of Nuevo Leon for nearly twenty-five years. General Francisco Canedo, General Abraham Bandala and Pedro Rodriguez ruled the States of Sinaloa, Tabasco and Hidalgo, respectively, for over twenty years. General Luis Terrazas was governor of Chihuahua for over twenty years, while Governors Martinez, Cardenas and Obregon Gonzalez ruled the States of Puebla, Coa-
