VIII
The sad exodus from Chihuahua—Archbishop Mendoza—Fiat money—Villa’s growing activities—Indian stoicism—Another Chapultepec reception—A day of “Mexican Magic” in the country.
December 14th
This evening, as I was coming through the Zocalo motoring home from the Country Club, I found the Palacio decked out in the national colors, to celebrate the clausura of the Camara, which will not open until April 1, 1914. Huerta has all extraordinary powers vested in himself, and is going to run the whole “shooting-match.” Thick défilés of carriages and autos, full of richly dressed people, were on both sides of San Francisco, the most brilliantly, extravagantly lighted street I know. The Embassy motor was allowed to run quickly between the two lines. The town seemed so animated and prosperous that one can’t realize the horrors underneath.
The cantinas have been closed on Sunday for several months—a wise act of Urrutia, then Minister of Gobernación. The people thus buy food, instead of pulque, on the Sabbath, and can work on Monday—San Lunes, as the first, often idle, day of the week is called. The pulquerías, with their sickening, sour smell, abound in all the poorer quarters, and are distinguished, besides the smell, by fringes of many-colored tissue-paper hanging from the tops of the doors. Their names—El amor divino, Hija del Mar, El Templo de Venus, etc., seem to be enticing.
The Italian minister, Cambiaggio, is “biding a wee” in Havana, having been stopped by his government.... It is the question, always recurring, of not having a new minister arrive who, by presenting his credentials, places another stone in the Huerta arch....
The confidential report of Admiral Cradock to his government was filched by the press. The typewriter who made the copy was paid $200 for it. In it, it appears, he quotes Nelson as saying that the “most sacred international relationship in the world is that between England and the United States.” Most annoying for Sir Christopher!