Scott, however, though an aspirant for the Presidency, did not shrink from his duty, and on arriving in Tampico he issued General Orders 20, which threw the pale of martial law round all United States forces operating in Mexico, and provided for the punishment, through "military commissions," of offences committed by, in or upon them.[31.22] Orders 20, republished at Vera Cruz, Puebla and the capital and widely circulated in Spanish, were supplemented by issuing safeguards, under which one or more soldiers, bearing a proper document signed by a corps or division commander, could be quartered at any place which it was especially for the interest of the army to protect.[31.23] In occupying towns the rule was to billet no officer or man, without consent, upon any inhabitant, and to quarter the troops in barracks and other public buildings already used for the purpose by the Mexican government.[31.24] These arrangements, the practice of paying for everything used by the army, the principle of treating non-combatant Mexicans as fellow-citizens, and a strenuous endeavor to enlist the coöperation of all the decent men of the army in the suppression of outrages constituted the system of Scott.[31.25] At Vera Cruz misdeeds were perpetrated, of course, but the culprits who could be detected paid a price for their sport that put the fear of the Lord--or at least of Scott--into the hearts of others. One tipsy fellow, who nearly killed a Mexican woman with kicks and blows, was strapped over a wagon, given twelve good lashes, and then placed at labor in a fort with a ball-and-chain for the rest of the war. A second ruffian, for a worse offence against a woman, was promptly and publicly hanged.[31.26] On the other hand preventive regulations[31.27] concerning liquor, gambling, roaming about the city and the like soon went into force.[31.30] But the American measures were not simply negative. Worth, who became governor as soon as the town surrendered, distributed free rations among the people, and prevented extortion by establishing a fair scale of prices for eatables. A large force of laborers was employed at liberal wages to clean the streets and the Augean castle of Ulúa. Assured of protection the shops reopened promptly. In ten days the general effects of the bombardment appeared hardly noticeable. Freed from the exactions of their officials and military chiefs and rapidly gaining confidence in our intentions, the people seemed like new men. Commerce, favored by the low American duties, took on fresh life. Although anti-Catholic sentiment was raging in the United States, Scott and some of his principal officers attended mass and even marched in the processions; and the soldiers were bidden to salute not only the tasselled cane of the magistrate but the cassock of the priest.[31.30]