UNITED STATES TROOPS

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1105, 19 April 1911, Page 5

UNITED STATES TROOPS

CONCENTRATING ON THE FRONTIER. GRAVE VIEW OF THE SITUAThe "Daily Mail's" New York correspondent writes on-March 8 as follows:— "I am able to state ou excellent authority that the health of President Diaz of Mexico is most precarious. He is unable to walk alone, and has been sustained for many days past only by the constant administration of stimulants. The American Administration, though it continues to disparage such suggestions, cherishes the gravest fears that the downfall and death of Diaz will be followed immediately by a state of anarchy which would menace the .£300,000,000 ot Ainenan investments in Mexico. It is determined to prevent at all costs the wholesale destruction of property, and if necessary will even occupy Mexico. It is the hope of President Taft that such drastic measures will not be required. The concentration of 20,000 troops in lexas is designed, in -the opinion of the Administration, to give pause to the insurgents, and effectually check any desire on thenpart to indulge the-.growing anh-Amen-can sentiments of the Mexican people by any widespread devastation of American property. It is significant that the leaders of the insurgents to-day publish, statements in ■ which they declare that the overthrow of the Diaz regime will not lead to anarchy, and that the future Government of Mexico will assume all responsibility for damage inflicted in tho course nf the war. "I understand that the grave view of the Mexican situation taken by the Administration is due to information which may be summed up in the words, 'Ninetyfive" of every 100 Mexicans are ready at the first favourable moment to throw in their lot with the insurgents.' This judgment <f the state of affairs, coinciding with t'Jj circumstantial reports that President Diaz, if not actually dying, has no longer strength to control the insurgent movement, determined the Administration to act promptly and prepare immediately for all contingencies. Possibility of Intervention. "The United States Administration dreads the possibility of its being forced to intervene in Mexico. As one Washington correspondent puts it, it would be far easier to occupy than to evacuate Mexico. ■ To overawe tho insurgents must therefore be described as. the intention of the Administration. To this end it was decided to make the mobilisation still more impressive than was originally contemplated. As I write a private telegram is handed to me, saying, 'Twelve thousand additional troops are to be ordered to.Texas, and the Militia of tha and the adjoining States are to be called out.' Every soldier is being armed with ball cartridge, and the country is buzzing with preparations. Thirteen hundred troops leave New York to-night in the steamship Jamestown for Fort Monroe, Virginia, whence they will proceed to San Antonio,. Texas. "The Fifth Division of the Atlantic fleet is due to set out from New York to-morrow. The 'manoeuvres' will be participated in by the entire Pacific fleet. "I saw Senor Gustavo A. Madero, brother of tho leader of tho Mexican revolution, this afternoon. He described the mobilisation of the American troops as a victory for the Mexican insurgents. 'It destroys even the myth which President Diaz is propagating, that the revolutionaries are merely a small body of malcontents. No sooner is' Diaz dead or overthrown,, he said, 'than we- shall bo the party in power. The people are with us. We shall set un a provisional Government, with my brother as President, for sixty days. Then we shall get an honest election.'"

Protection of Foreign Property. Recent renorts from Washington state that the situation in Mexico has been getting continually worse in view of recent rebel successes. Most of the Mexican troops arc reported to be moving from the districts near the United States border to protect districts near tho capital. It is also stated that foreign Governments, having looked to America to protect all foreign property and interests, would be likely to hold her responsible for any losses to their property on t account of the Monroe doctrine. While Wall Street does not place any credence in rumours of threatened European intervention in Mexican affairs or of any menace of war, still tho conditions are regarded as requiring veiy ciose watching. Mexican and U.S. Armies. Tho Mexican Republic occupies the southern part of tho North American continent, and has a population of about 15,000,090, of whom less than 20 per cotit. aro puro whites. President Diaz is serving his eighth four-year term as President, and first assumed that office in lS7(i. The Mexican army ha 3 a nominal war strength of 81,500. Tho troops are mostly armed with tho Mauser rifle, and the guns aro df tho Schneidcr-Canet pattern. The fleet is a negligible quantity, consisting chiefly of antiquated dispatchboats. Mexico is bounded in the southeast by Guatemala and British Honduras. Its northern frontier marches with that of the United States for 1833 miles. The United States, with a population of over 90,000,000, has a regular army, the peaco effective of which is 82,000 men. The National Guard has a strength of 105,000 kc\\, about 80,000 partly trained. The Militia, if embodied in accordance with the Government's full powers, would number some 1C million men, all at pre6ent untrained. The navy lias n personnel nf 45,000. and includes 29 battlesuita, \

I coast defence ironclads, U armoured cruiser?, and 16 protected cruisers, besides destroyers and submarines.

Causes of the Insurrection. The "Outlook" of February IS states : - War is going on within sight of the United States border line—not on a large scale, to be sure, but still war. lne town of Ciudad Juarez, which iias been tho bone of contention between the Mexican insurrectos and Federal troops, is just across tho Rio Grande River from El Paso, a well-known Texan town, so that the residents of El Paso have been able to see skirmishing and manoeuvring from day to day, and their usual close relations with their Mexican neighbours have been broken off. It is even reported that automobile "sisht-seeing parties to the battlefield" are doing a tine business. Aviators giving an exhibition in El Paso were warned not to cross >he Mexican line. A correspondent in Mexico gives "The Outlook" the following statement of the causes of the insurrection: "The opposition to President Diaz is due to the fact that he has not recognised the younger and more progressive men in Mexico. A chief cause of complaint is that the elections are shams; that both (lie legislative and judicial oßicers are really designated by the President rather than elected; and that the Supreme Court is not in fact n judicial body, but is dominated by Executive influence. It is n feeling among some business men, both Mexicans and foreigners, that a few rich men, Mexicans, control in a large measure the granting of privileges and concessions, and that such grants have been made more for the bentfit of tho private interests than the public welfare. Tho immediate cause of the present revolution was the treatment accorded Madero and tho=c with him who opposed Diaz's election."