CHAPTER III
Rebels and revolutions
NEEDLE your way through the crowded streets of Mexico City or motor to the suburbs and you will rub sleeves, exchange glances with, or pass along the road, rebels, ex-rebels and honest soldiers. Saunter or drive about the capital and you will see, face to face, the individuals who present the biggest problem of reconstruction in Mexico. You will encounter a sufficient number of the army of 114,000 to convince you that even if the payrolls are padded there are large groups of men actually drawing salaries.
In mid-August, 1917, a cousin of General Zapata, the bandit chief of the state of Morelos where the sugar plantations are, surrendered with "two thousand men" to the national government. Those who wished to join the army of the Republic were permitted to do so. The week before these men were bandits. Within seven days they became soldiers.
Not all of the peons who join the national army are patriotic, a fact which causes considerable trouble in the country districts. Sometimes, after
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