GENERAL HUERTA.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14857, 24 December 1913, Page 9

GENERAL HUERTA.

DICTATOR OF THE OLD SCHOOL.

(tbom oub owk conaxsrosnEfT-) LONDON, November 14. An entertaining picture of General Huerta is given by Mr E. F. Searing, a New York banker, who has just returned from Mexico, and knows tho Provisional President well. He is a Dictator of tho old school; a man of great ability and quick decision. He will not tolerate opposition. Last May the Moxican Congress considered a project for a new loan which Huerta desired. Congress thought the terms exorbitant. Ho sent for some of tho leaders.

"I need this money," said he, very simply; "without it 1 cannot put down the banditti warfare now raging. I wish to 00-operato with you, but remember this: I am a 6oldier, and if you don't do what I want you to do, look out." . Later on he placed the entire Congress under arrest, but tho man who does not hesitate at this ruthless use of power is as simple and unpretentious as a country grocer on Independence I>ay- _, Mr Searing watched Huerta, surrounded by the Cabinet, ride in state, under an escort of cavalrymen, to open the Chamber of Deputies. "He rode down the famous street of Silversmiths in evening dress, his coat covered with medals, and a broad ribbon carrying tho colours of Mexico crossed his bosom. He was surrounded by a hand-somely-uniformed mounted guard. Two hours later I sat in the Cafe Globe, eating my dinner, when an automobile stopped outside, and Huerta, dressed in a wrinkled old grey business suit, wearing a slouch hat, and without a single guard, entered the bar. He called for a drink, and stood there alone.

"Huerta likes to dine at restaurants, and it is not at all uncommon to see him taking a drink at the bar of the Cafe Colon or eating dinner at Bach's Restaurant. I havo seen him come into Bach's Restaurant and walk from end to end, looking for an unoccupied place at the table, and by and by somo American would surrender his seat. It is not ftiat the Mexicans are discourteous — they are the most polite people in the world, but Huorta has been seen so frequently in these places that ho has made lumself common. Many of tho acts which have been most harshly criticised were ordered after Huerta had spent hours in a restaurant. One night he had been drinking in a cafe at a late hour, and every one was blissfully conwhen in walked ono of his old cronies. For years this man and Huerta had been companions in cafes almost every evening. Huerta slapped bis old friend roughly on the back. ''Why aren't you at headquarters, Mr Chief of Police?" His old friend stared at Huerta in astonishment. "Take charge to-morrow,' said Huerta; 'I mean it.'

"Huerta is not without a sense of humour. Onoo a Commission from one of the States called at his bungalow at Popotla. After the Commissioners had concluded their business he personally conducted them about tho place. In ono room wero somo handsome bookcases.

" 'Let mc show you my library,' said he, throwing open the doors. Tho Commissioners found that the shelves of the 'library' wero cases filled with a variety of bottled liqueurs. 'These books,' he said, 'always mako the heart merry.' "

"Years ago, Senor;" said a Cabinet Minister to Mr Searing, the other day, "we had a President named Gonzales. One day ho ordered the Minister of tho Treasury to send £10,000 to his home. Tbe Minister did so, and also sent a note, 'Please direct me,' ho had written, 'what account I shall charge this sum to.' it to my nerve,' was Gonzales's reply. President Huerta was unable to find a law under which he arrested tho Deputies on his norve."