Carranza, Venustiano, 1859-1920; Mexico -- History -- Revolution, 1910-1920; Mexico -- Politics and government -- 1910-1946
Carranza learned a lesson and decided to organize the local government
wherever he went and wherever the Constitutionalists were masters of
States. As the chief of the revolution, Carranza directed the movement
of the three army divisions, that is to say, the great strategic
lines, and the generals took care of the tactical movements. Thus was
the first chief able to devote his energy to the creation of civil
government, instead of personally directing or fighting battles. Many
critics have wondered what Carranza had done in the Revolution. It is
quite comprehensible that the patient, unremitting task of organizing
the civil government of conquered States, does not appear in the same
romantic light as the attacking and storming of a city, although it is
as important and useful, and more enduring work.
In many States in the south--Morelos, Guerrero--where the Huerta
officials had all fled and the only rulers were the Zapatista soldiers,
the Indians had instinctively organized a patriarchal and tribal
rule of their own. Very significant of the patience, and law-abiding
sentiment of the average Mexican, is the fact that in those regions,
where for over two years no government existed, crimes were less
frequent than where the government held sway.
Carranza began to organize the postal and telegraph systems in Durango,
Sinaloa and Sonora. Headquarters were in Hermosillo, as the federals
always kept either to border towns or seaports,--the rest of the State
was under the control of the Constitutionalists. Wherever possible
the trains were run on schedule time,--telegrams and mail were sent
and received. Judges and all the municipal governments of the larger
and smaller cities were created. When the border towns were taken, a
simple system of tariff was enacted working both ways, for exports
as well as imports. The Minister who helped Carranza as Secretary of
the Interior, was Rafael Zubáran Capmany, who afterwards was sent to
Washington as a confidential agent for the Constitutionalists.
Those who have had an opportunity to follow the operations of Carranza
through the official paper, _El Constitucionalista_, and the pamphlet
which contains his decrees, can pursue step by step all his official
acts and his reconstructive policy.
Don F. Iglesias Calderón, after escaping from the fortress of San Juan
de Ulloa, told the writer that he crossed the border at Juarez for
Chihuahua, Torreon, Saltillo, Monterey, and back to the border, and
very much to his surprise he travelled on schedule time. At that time
the whole north was in the hands of the Constitutionalists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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