In the case of the big sugar plantations Zapata levied a ransom which was calculated on a certain percentage of the profits; to feed, clothe and arm his soldiers. The salaries of the workers were increased and the proprietor of the plantation was protected against depredations and destruction. If the sugar planter refused to pay, then his machinery, the buildings and the crops were burned. The constant threat of and fear of Zapata’s army eliminated the worst form of slavery: peonage. The rest of the population was empowered to appropriate and cultivate the land surrounding the villages or near their dwellings. In this fashion Zapata’s soldiers were fed, clothed and armed--every ablebodied man, every peon had his rifle and his ammunition and was always ready to fight the aggressions of the federal army. Practically the whole male population between the ages of twenty and thirty was under arms; when the Federals were away it attended to the crops; when soldiers invaded its territory they were driven out of it or forced to keep within the limits of the cities. Without having any knowledge of French history the Zapatistas followed in the footsteps of the French revolutionists. While the leaders Marat, Danton, Robespierre were fighting their and their parties’ supremacy and eliminating one another with the assistance of the guillotine; while the French armies were fighting the foreign invaders, the French peasants after burning a few chateaux and driving away the aristocratic landowners settled down to work the land for their own profits. As long as the aristocrat could not come back to claim the land, the peasant cared not who ran the government. Napoleon was able to become Emperor because he wisely left the peasants in possession of lands which they had confiscated from the aristocrats. In Mexico the identical thing has happened and continues and will continue until some sort of government will be created to satisfy the needs of the country. The basis of future democracy in Mexico will be founded on municipal self rule in all the cities and rural settlements. When that is a fact there will be little trouble with the other branches of the government. The landowners in most of the States have been driven out and meanwhile the peons are working on the land in Morelos as well as in most of the other States. The rich haciendados have left and the poor peons have stayed behind. We hear only about battles, the capture of cities, the ambitions of leaders, the quarrels among the generals, but we hear nothing at all of the peons working to feed the 15,000,000 inhabitants in Mexico, of the thousands of artisans and workingmen who help to complete the work of the farmer.