Queries And Answers.

New York Times 100 years ago today, March 9, 1913:
Mexico and the Balkans.
    E. G. PHINNEY.—Will you please tell briefly the cause of the Mexican fighting, also of the Balkan War? What points must be settled to secure peace?
    Almost from the moment that the late President Madero of Mexico took up the reins of government two years ago hostility was shown to his regime, culminating, in more or less serious revolts, led by Orozco, Zapata, and others, and finally in the outbreak of Feb. 9, in Mexico City, which resulted in the deposition and death of Madero and the accession of Gen. Huerta to the Presidency. Some think that Huerta and his ally, Felix Diaz, represent the recrudescence in Mexico of feeling in favor of the exiled ex-President Porfirio Diaz, as both men were prominent during Diaz's long tenure of office.
    The immediate cause of the war in the Balkans was the massacre of Christians in the Turkish Province of Macedonia, close, to the Montenegrin frontier. This caused King Nicholas of Montenegro to declare war, and similar action followed promptly from Bulgaria, Servia, and Greece.
    But the hostility between Turkey and her Balkan neighbors dates back entire centuries — as far, in fact, as the battle of Kossovo in 1389, when the Turks won a great victory over the Christians of the Balkans.
    It is impossible to say what will bring about a stable condition of peace in Mexico. Some maintain that only the return of Porfirio Diaz to power can do it. Others are of the opinion that his return would merely produce another rebellion like the one which, under the ill-fated Madero, drove Diaz from power. Still others think foreign intervention the only means of getting lasting peace in Mexico.
    Peace in the Balkans depends on whether Turkey and the allies can come to a satisfactory understanding regarding terms. At the peace conference held in London this year, the Turkish delegates strenuously opposed the demand of the allies that Adrianople and the islands in the Aegean Sea be surrendered by Turkey. Finally, after pressure had been brought to bear by the great European powers, Turkey consented to the surrender, but the news immediately caused a revolt in Constantinople, and the rise to power of men in favor of continuing the war.
    Whether the allies will modify their demands or keep up the fight until they get what they demanded in London remains to be seen.