--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 14 number: 5 published: 1911-03 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Views in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico," *Improvement Era* 14, no. 5 (March 1911): 451–452.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1405unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1405unse start_page: 451 end_page: 452 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1911-03) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1405unse publication_year: 1911 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1911, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Views in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico Editor's Table. The Revolution in Mexico. According to the most reliable information obtainable, actual civil war exists in Mexico. The revolutionary movement is grad- ually spreading, the insurgents gaining strength, while the gov- ernment thus far appears to be unable to successfully cope with their opponents. Armed resistance against the government has appeared in the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Sonora, Vera Cruz, Puebla and Tabasco, in all of which states the insur- gents, or antireelectionists, as they term themselves, have clashed with the federal troops, and blood has been shed. Besides these actual hostilities, unrest and dissatisfaction with the govern- ment has manifested itself in Tamualipas, Sinaloa, Nuevo Leon, Guadalajara, Guerrero and Tepic, while in Ucatan and Campeche, as well as in Quintana Roo, opposition to the government is the normal condition. Warfare has been confined chiefly to the state of Chihur.hua, where a number of sanguinary battles have been fought, and where, notwithstanding the efforts of the government to suppress the uprising, the insurgents have steadily increased in numbers, equipment and effective strength. In Chihuahua battles have been fought at Bustillos, Pederales, Serro Prieto, Mai Paso, El Valle, Galeana, and near the Mexican Central Railroad, west of Gallegc. In these battles perhaps five hundred men have been killed. Besides these engagements referred to, there has been fighting at Parral, Gomez Palacio, Ojinaga, Coyiame and other points in Chihuahua, and in Sonora and Lower California. One naturally asks, "What are they fighting for?" A combination of circumstances have led up to the present unfortunate condition. The masses of the people of Mexico are poor. The agricultural lands of the country are held almost without ex- ception, in large tracts, granted by the kingdom of Spain, or later by the Mexican government, to individuals who have become immensely wealthy through the exploitation of these lands, and it has become imperative that the common people, lacking homes of their own, or land that could be acquired, became the servants of the more wealthy, until a condition bordering very closely upon slavery has gradually been established. For instance: General Luis Ter- razas, until the early part of February, the real governor of the state of Chihuahua, can travel to the city of Chihuahua, from Colonia Juarez, a distance of two hundred and fifty miles, and camp on his own land every night. He owns tens of thousands of cattle, horses and sheep, which graze over this great domain, and has had almost as absolute control of the people who care for these vast flocks and herds as over the land .itself. For several years past there has been drought in Mexico^ -crops have been short, taxes have been increased, and the poverty of the masses intensified to the extent that the common people are in a condition to espouse any cause which holds out hope of better conditions. Another class, wealthy and intelligent, but not numbered among those who during the past thirty-five years have had abso- lute control of the politics of Mexico, demand that the constitu- tion be honored, that they be permitted — a right which the constitution guarantees — to vote for the officers who govern them. They protest against continued taxation without representation, and demand a fair election and an honest count of the votes cast. Since Porfirio Diaz was inaugurated president, more than thirty-five years ago, there has never been what may be termed a popular election in Mexico. A few men, always men who were the appointees of the Federal power, have met, cast their votes for Diaz, and thus he has been continuously re-elected to succeed himself. At the late election Francisco Madero announced his candidacy for the presidency. He was immediately arrested and confined in jail until the election was over. A number of newspapers in