BarbarousMexico JOHN KENNETH TURNER

THE DIAZ-AMERICAN PRESS CONSPIRCV
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Times—and various smaller publications, as well as
many private individuals and a book publisher or two
took up the work of defending their friend Diaz.
As to the book defense against "Barbarous Mexico,"
little has appeared so far, doubtless because of the
shortness of time, but there are reports that several
books are on their way. One of these, it is said, is to be
by James Creelman, who left the employ of Pearson's
Magazine at the call of Diaz, hurried to Mexico from
Turkey, and spent several weeks going over the route
I described in my articles, in order that he might be
able to "refute" me with verisimilitude, no doubt.
The book "Por6rio Diaz," written by Jose F. Godoy,
whom Diaz recently appointed as his minister to Cuba,
though it does not refer to my exposures in any way,
was quite likely hurried out because of them. Here is
a very expensively printed book, containing nothing that
has not been printed repeatedly before, except—seventy
pages of endorsements of Dias zrittcn by prominent
Americans. Here we have the case of a man, Mr. Godoy,
who actually vent about—or sent about—among senators,
congressmen, diplomats and cabinet officers, soliciting
kind words for President Diaz. And he got them.
In looking over this book it seems to me that almost any
discriminating persons would be moved to inquire what
moved G. P. Putnam's Sons to issue that book. Surely
it was not entirely the hope of profitable sales to the
general public.
I know of only one book of criticism of the Diaz system
that was put out by a regular American publisher,
and the criticism in that book was so veiled and so interspersed
with flattery that the American reviewers
took it for one of the old adulatory sort. Only one of