27 DECEMBER 1913, Page 1
A strange improvised Christmas holiday has been arranged in Mexico,
where General Huerta has decreed that the rest of the year shall be a Bank holiday. The meaning of this is that General Huerta wants to prevent a run on the banks. During this agreeable period everyone will be excused from paying his debts and will have the gratification of feeling that he is sup- porting the Government by his omission to do so. As though to lend every appearance of festivity to the distinctly gloomy financial situation, General Huerta has also celebrated his birthday with much pomp. One recalls Wordsworth's sonnet on "young Buonaparte's natal day," in which the poet remarks that, whatever may be the case elsewhere, "Calais is not gay." Certainly Mexico is not.
