Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/182

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
166
MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA

be multiplied until they would fill all the pages of this book without exhausting the list. They are given as being merely illustrative of the character of the Carrancistas. The list of what they have wrecked and ruined might be extended to include mines, smelters, public-service corporations, railroads, and in fact every kind of financial and industrial enterprise which contributes to the well-being of a country.

The spirit of looting and dishonesty which rules the present government appears to have been very frankly indicated in a series of articles published last year by Luis Cabrera, at one time Secretary of Finance in the Carranza cabinet and one of the most prominent leaders in the Carranza revolutionary party. It appears that Mr. Cabrera had been accused by some of his enemies of profiting by his control of the national finances. In response to this accusation, he published three articles in El Universal, in the City of Mexico, in which, while admitting that large amounts of property and sums of money had come into possession of the military officials as a result of robbery and confiscation, he denies that this money had found its way into the national or state treasuries. In his explanation Secretary Cabrera shows how this was done, as follows (we quote verbatim from El Universal; the italics are ours):