and expected to be able to pay the graft within a very short time. A new use, indeed, for motorcars, but the manager and the company were satisfied because the cars cost, delivered in Mexico City, about one-fourth of the amount of the "protection" formerly rendered.
Friends of President Carranza will candidly admit that the First Chief, when he was fighting for recognition and authority, had to accept the services of many undesirable men, both officers and soldiers. Mr. Carranza and his intimate advisors know that there are rebels and grafters in office to-day. They realise that these men cannot be ousted immediately and without cause. If the present government were to expell from the army, or imprison every officer and soldier who to-day is not following orders, the government would be overthrown even if the penitentiaries could hold all the guilty. For this reason Mr. Carranza is working slowly and quietly to eliminate these men from his councils and from responsible positions. Whether he will succeed is a puzzle the key to which has not been found. There are Mexicans and foreigners who will tell you that the Carranza Government is as certain to fall as the buildings in Mexico City are certain to sink; and this latter fact no one doubts, as even the National Theatre, the so-called "White Elephant" because its marble walls are uncompleted, is gradually sinking in the mire upon which the capital is built. Others will inform you that this government is gaining
