Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/55

Rh

 "'We were informed yesterday from an authorized source that in the new budget the federal government is preparing, the salaries assigned to government employees will be seventy-five per cent. of that they now receive. At present seventy-five per cent. of the salary is being paid in cash and twenty-five per cent. in bonds but, in the new budget, the salary basis will be seventy-five per cent. of that now in effect.'

"It is virtually impossible for Carranza to stop graft and keep a loyal army. This is more especially the case when one remembers that some of the leading generals with the most important commands in the country are earning very modest salaries and living at the proverbial clip of Pittsburgh millionaires despite the fact that they had no private fortunes before joining the Carranza movement."

The criminal waste of public funds by public officials in Mexico City at the present time is mentioned in the article from the New York Sun, previously referred to, in the following language:

 "Mexico City wears an awful aspect and the awfulness is accentuated by the contrast between the dark, filthy patios, in which the starving peons huddle and the palaces built by the 'Cientificos' of the Diaz régime where the Carrancista officials now hold obscene orgy. Carranza himself has chosen the magnificent residence at 95 Paseo de la Reforma as his private residence. Each general has his own picked troop to guard his residence and a military band to entertain him."