BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

REPRESSIVE ELEMENTS OF THE DIAZ MACHINE 143
for freedom, break and run like escaping convicts. And
they are hunted down like convicts.
But the thing that struck me most forcibly during my
visit was that the little captain, in the hearing of half a
company of men, told us that the soldiers were of the
lowest class of Mexicans, were good for nothing, a bad
lot, etc., apologizing thus in order to make us understand
that in time of war the quality of the army would be
much improved. The soldiers heard and failed to look
pleasant and I decided right there that the loyalty of the
Mexican army stands upon a very flimsy basis—merely
fear of death—and that in case of any future rebellion
against the dictatorship the army can be counted upon to
revolt in a body as soon as the rebellion develops any
appreciable strength—that is, enough strength to afford
the deserters a fair chance for their lives.
The territory of Quintana Roo has been characterized
as one of the "Siberias of Mexico," from the fact that
to it, as convict-soldiers, are consigned thousands of
political suspects and labor agitators. Sent there ostensibly
to fight the Maya Indians, they are treated so
harshly that probably not one per cent of them ever see
their homes again. I did not succeed in penetrating personally
to Quintana Roo, but I have heard accounts of
it from so many authentic sources that I have no doubt
whatever that my estimate of it is correct. One of these
sources of information I shall quote at some length, a
distinguished government physician who for three years
was Chief of Sanitary Service with the army in the
territory.
"For thirty years," said this man. "there has been an
army of from 2.000 to 3,000 men constantly in the field
against the Maya Indians. These soldiers are made up
almost entirely of political suspects and even many of