Taxation has become only a matter of pressure to get something from anybody who has it.
A SIMPLE PROPOSITION
Yet, aside from the question of order and justice, Mexico is a simple proposition. The national expenses are less than $100,000,000 American gold, yet a little more than half must go to the national defense. The revenues have been but seventy-five per cent of the expenses, and because it never had any credit it never piled up any outside debt. Diaz not only built up Mexican foreign trade from $15,000,000 American gold to $250,000,000, but he built up the national treasury from emptiness to $30,000,000 American gold.
More than thirty years ago John Bigelow warned us that, notwithstanding the apparent peace and prosperity in Mexico under Diaz, it was a republic only in name, a slumbering volcano with a government by gunpowder only. At that time I refuted many of Mr. Bigelow's errors in his citation of facts, but history proved his main indictment. The people of Mexico have never had a chance, and the moment Diaz attempted to broaden the governing base in Mexico he was overthrown. The people have ever since
