The Days of a Man 1:1916 



Stanford luncheon at the University Club. In my 

 talk before this kindly group I urged mediation and 

 Another arbitration — the latter in accordance with a special 

 scrap oj treaty made with Mexico in 1849, which it was now 

 proposed to treat as " a scrap of paper." Even admit- 

 ting that the best interests of Mexico and of civiliza- 

 tion might sometime demand intervention, I insisted 

 that such action should not hinge on local disputes 

 or temporary pretexts, nor take place in response to 

 the feverish eagerness of transient visitors to the 

 border. 



My colleague, RoUand, thoroughly devoted to Car- 

 ranza, claimed that he did the best possible under 

 difficult conditions. But not many whom I met in 

 El Paso thought him a man of either character or 

 ability. People spoke well of Obregon, however, 

 "Eicapi- while Villa (the "Enchanted Captain") was generally 

 ^tado"'^^^' regarded as a warm-hearted, hot-tempered, impul- 

 sive creature, "an untamed Maya Indian who had 

 gone wrong through the combined influence of power, 

 women, liquor, and blood." 



Army officers, everywhere in evidence, conducted 

 themselves with dignity, taking no part in heated dis- 

 cussions. One said to me: "We are here to obey 

 orders." For Funston, Pershing, and Hugh M. 

 Scott, I heard only words of praise. 



A few steady-headed business men, engineers, 

 teachers, and clergymen deprecated war-talk and 

 worked quietly for peace. But the populace was 

 eager to conquer and annex with incidental pillage — 

 while some of the large landholders spoke of the neces- 

 "Stabiiiz- sity of "stabilizing" properties secured through Diaz 

 ing con- concessions. In no other American city, I was told, 



cessions . j j ' 



were there laid so many plots that would not bear the 

 C 696 : 



