BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

192
BARBAROUS MEXICO
ment of Reyes and the high-handed acts that went before
it only served to make the people bolder in their
demands. From daring to nominate a candidate merely
for vice-president, they passed to nominating a candidate
for president. The pseudo opposition party became
an opposition party indeed.
In Francisco I. Madero, the party found its new
leader. Madero was a distinguished citizen of Coahuila,
a member of one of the oldest and most respected families
in Mexico. The Maderos had never involved themselves
in Diaz politics; they were rich farmers, well
educated, cultured and progressive. Maderos first
notable interest in democracy was shown in his book,
"La Sucesion Presidencial," which he published in 190,13.
It was a thoughtful but mild criticism of the Diaz
regime, and in the end it urged the people to insist upon
the right to engage in the elections of 1910.
Madero's book is said to have been suppressed in
Mexico, but only after it had gained wide circulation,
and its influence was no doubt considerable in prompting
the launching of the Democratic Party. After the
nomination of Reyes, Madero went about the country
in his own private car, addressing public meetings, not
campaigning for Reyes, but confining himself chiefly to
the dissemination of the A, B, C's of popular government.
The banishment of Reyes did not stop Madero's
speech-makings and before the end of 1909 it was
announced that the Democratic and Revist clubs would
reorganize as "Anti-Re-electionist" clubs, and that a
national convention would be held at which the Anti-
Rc-electionist Party would he organized and nominations
made for president and vice-president of the republic.