Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/216

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MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA

quired. And, because it was felt that the peons had been permitted to remain in economic servitude and had been denied those opportunities for education and economic advancement to which every man is entitled, many friends of the Mexican people welcomed the success of the Madero revolution in the hope that it meant a better chance in life for the submerged majority.

But before Madero had become firmly seated in the presidency, it became evident that the old spirit of political unrest and unpatriotic lust for power and loot, which had destroyed the capacity of government for good from the date of its independence to the advent of Diaz, still existed. A half dozen revolutions were started against Madero during the first two years of his term by other ambitious leaders. This struggle for power, and the consequent opportunity of robbing both public and private wealth, resulted in the unseating of Madero before he had served half the term to which he had been elected, and the assassination of himself, the vice-president and a number of his friends and supporters.

Since the close of Madero's brief and tragic career the fact is only too plainly apparent that the unsettled conditions, with all their attendant evils, which existed previous to the Diaz period, have returned in full force. In the eight years since Diaz abandoned his office and his country Mexico