Identifier: diazmasterofmexi00cree (find matches)
Title: Diaz, master of Mexico
Year: 1911 (1910s)
Authors: Creelman, James, 1859-1915
Subjects: Díaz, Porfirio, 1830-1915
Publisher: New York, London, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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President Roosevelts penthe declaration that President Diaz is the greateststatesman now hving, and inspired Elihu Root, theconservative and reticent Secretary of State, to say ina public speech: I look to Porfirio Diaz, the Presidentof Mexico, as one of the great men to be held up forthe hero worship of mankind. President Diaz has remained in power continuouslyfor twenty-six years, in addition to his first term of fouryears, and he has just been reelected for six years more;so that, if he should live out his new term of office, hewill have served as President of the Mexican Republicfor thirty-six years. Almost the first act of Diaz, on returning to the presi-dency in 1884, was to have his own salary cut down from$30,000 to $15,000. As a soldier he never asked hismen to go where he would not lead; so, now, in dealingwith an imperious necessity for retrenchment, he fi.rstreduced his own income by one half before asking theother officials and employees to suffer a diminution of 2>7^
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General Diaz When He Became President for the SecondTime, in 1884. RETURN TO THE PRESIDENCY their pay. Then he made a general reduction of salarieswhich saved $2,221,545 a year. In addition to this, heenforced economies in all branches of the government,and held his subordinates strictly in the collection ofthe nations revenues. As a further sign of his attitudehe refused to live in the national palace, and made hisresidence in a modest private house close by. With his mind set on restoring the national credit,the President grappled heroically with the neglecteddebts of the country. The floating debt of $25,000,000—which consisted mainly of unpaid salaries and wagesin the military service and civil list, overdue subsidies tosmall railways, pay warrants on the treasury, and short-time loans—was converted into a scheme of annual pay-ments of $1,943,275 during twenty-five years, which wasequivalent to raising a cash loan of $25,000,000 at sixper cent. The mighty foreign debt claims o

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