14
MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA
cated the food the farmers had raised, and had sold it. This very thing has been done in numerous instances throughout Mexico by the representatives of the Carranza Government as was stated by Mr. Cabrera in a newspaper article quoted in another chapter.
It would be surprising if the members of the Carranza Government, who have shown such dishonesty in their dealing with private possessions, should refrain from exhibiting the same spirit in dealing with public property. That they have observed no such restraint is shown by many instances of the dishonesty of public officials that have come to light.
On October 25, 1917, an editorial appeared in El Universal, the leading daily of Mexico City, which said in part:
"The transcendental depth of the bad railway communications with the consequent uncertainty of transport of passengers and merchandise continues to be one of the gravest problems to settle. Every little while assaults and blowings up of freight trains occur. The scarcity of rolling stock continues and more than anything else, the immoral exploitation of the railways by employees and military chiefs continues. The most important route which connects our first port with the capital of the republic, the route by which the greater part of our exportation leaves and through which almost all imported products from Europe come, is
