CIVIL ORGANIZATION OF THE REVOLUTION
One of the causes which defeated the work of the Madero revolution,
was the lack of organization of civil governments within the States
conquered by the Maderistas. Rebel bands wandered hither and thither,
taking anything they needed and signing vouchers to be repaid at the
end of the revolution.
The Judges, “Jefes Políticos” and minor officials, with the exception
of marked men, stayed in office during the revolution, and after Madero
came into power. The machinery of Diaz remained, the army and all the
officials, with the exception of the President, cabinet members and the
governors.
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.
The foreign press could not understand why Carranza did not hasten at
once to Mexico City after the flight of Huerta. Carranza could not
leave a single State between Mexico City and the border unorganized,
that is to say, without placing Constitutionalist officials in charge.
Otherwise the Huerta officials would later have created local strife.
The first Chief had to put new wine in new bottles, in order to succeed
in any future reform which might be enacted by Congress.
With Carranza it was not only a question of conquest. His idea was to
rebuild, reconstruct Mexico, not merely conquer it.
[Illustration: DON RAFAEL ZUBÁRAN CAPMANY
Minister of Foreign Affairs with Carranza, also Representative of
Carranza in Washington]