# fizs^ ADDIL^S OF Mr. Ltris (I^Abrera Published by LATIN-AMERICAN NEW:^ ASSOCIATION 1400 Broadway, Ney( York City \ ( Cn4 Address of Mr. Luis Cabrera 11 Whatever I might say in token of gratitude, for the honor conferred upon us by The American Academy of Political and Social Science an3 The Pennsylvania Arbitration and Peace Society, would be little, in view of the great importance of the special invitation extended to us to attend this extra session of the Academy. We consider this session a high honor for our country more so than for ourselves, and we are glad of the opportunity to make ourselves heard before a scientific and scholarly audience, free from prejudice and interest towards the Mexican situation. Owing to their special nature, The American Academy of Politi- cal and Social Science, as well as the Pennsylvania Arbitration and Peace Society is an institution of scientific and humanitarian character, having at heart only the sole logical investigation and the good of humanity, and in that spirit proceeds to study the Mexican situation. The literature on Mexico which I have found in the United States is of an entirely superficial character, such as is contained in reports or interviews of a newspaper. Consequently, it is tinged with shallowness, based on rumors, and intended for telagraphic transmission. In many cases those reports have poll- 3 tical tendency and then thrt facts are not only inaccurate, but brought forth with the intention of moulding public opinion, or that of the United States Government, or that of some political party. In many other cases the literature of Mexico known in the United States, is simply imaginative, ranking from the novel down to the moving picture exhibition. I do not know of any book, pamphlet or publication on the Mexican situation which has been made with a scientific pur- pose. The sources of information have been either newspaper cor- respondents who discard 99% of important facts because they cannot extract therefrom a sensational headline for their paper, or foreigners having interests in Mexico, and who view the coun- try's situation merely from the viewpoint of their own business. Other founts of information come either from Mexicans who reside abroad, and whose views are affected by partisan bias, or by politicians representing some special faction or chieftain. All such founts must necessarily be unreliable. Not one of them springs from the purpose of ascertaining what are the true conditions of Mexico, and the public who reads them desires to find therein the corroboration of its own opinions rather than precise data. The mission which has brought us to the United States being of a diplomatic nature, prevents us from speaking with absolute liberty, and our connection with the Constitutionalist Govern- ment migth cause our opinions to be viewed as decidedly partial. As regards myself, without losing sight of the fact that I belong to the Government of Mr. Carranza and I am taking part in a diplomatic commission, I would like to say some words on the Mexican situation, appraising it from a purely scientific view- point. Therefore I shall not speak either as an official or a politician or a diplomat, but only as a member of The American Academy of Political and Social Science who desires to present the gen- eral features of a scientific interpretation of the facts which have been agitating Mexico during the past six years. THE CHAOS The general impression regarding the Mexican situation, not only abroad but in Mexico, is that it is but chaos. I The causes put forth by each Gc^vernment, each chief, each conspirator, each politician or eacH writer, as motives of the Mexican Revolution, are so numerous and conflicting that it is almost impossible to understand them. Some are general, others concrete, others immediate;, and others remote. The simplest conclusi^Dn which indolent intelligences or im- patient characters have extracted from this galaxy of motives, is that the Mexican people have an incorrigible tendency towards disorder and war, and is consequently the "sick man," whose cure is hopeless. The number of presidents that Mexico has had in a century, is nearly as large as the number of leaders, generals or chief- tains who in the past six years have assumed the title of legiti- mate Governments of Mexico. All possible forms of administration have tried to rule Mexico, ranking from brutally military governments, without organiza- tion of any kind, such as those of the Zapata or Villa, up to a Government of Democratic appearance, but headless, as that pro- ceeding from the Aguascalientes Convention. Foreign countries only know of Mexico what they see in the press headlines, and those are a tissue of bloody deeds, battles, assaults, blowing up of trains, massacres, shootings, imprison- ments, exiles, etc. Judging from this kind of information, the situation of Mex- ico is a complete chaos. Neither the American people, nor the men who might be supposed to appraise the situation, can do so through lack of general lines of interpretation of those facts. The student or the scientist who would like to understand and follow step by step the phenomena produced in the chemist's ^lass, or in the receptacle of bacteriological cultures, or in the crucible of the metallurgist; or the botanist who would like to follow the development of the seed or of the grass minutely, would find himself guideless to do so. Neither chemical, biological, nor sociological phenomena can be studied through direct observation of the elements at the time in which processes of transformation are taking place. It becomes necessary to know the nature of those elements, to observe the previous con- dition of the same, and subsequently the phenomena materialized therewith. To understand sociological phenomena, we need above all a general interpretation of a whole series of facts developed and of the evolving process ; notj a concrete explanation of each one of the facts as they take pla^e. I shall endeavor to make a sc^kntific interpretation of the Mexi- can situation. GEOGRAPHICAL DATA Geographically, Mexico is a high triangular plateau, having its vertex towards the South and its base towards the North, com- prised between two mountain chains, of which one runs parallel to the Gulf and the other to the Pacific Ocean. This high plateau is dry and bare in its Northern part, and has been chiefly devoted to cattle raisings. In the Southern part it is less dry and more fertile, and this Southern portion, properly called central plateau, is the cereal region. The Gulf slope, damp and hot,\is rich for tropical agriculture and gifted with extensive oil fields. The Pacific slope, dry and hot, but well irrigated by our mountains, will become an im- portant agricultural region. Yucatan, a stony desert, which has only been able to produce hemp, is the main body of Mexico, like Lower California. The mountain chains running parallel to the Gulf and to the Pacific, and which interlock in order to form the high Central Plateau, are not merely spurs, but comprising vast regions, con- stitute the extensive mountain portion of Mexico, and are the mining region. For a long time Mexico was considered to be a country of marvelous wealth. Afterwards it was believed that Mexico, on the contrary, was a very poor country. The truth is that Mexico possesses great wealth, unexploited, and needing large invest- ments of capital and exceeding energy and skill to develop it. POPULATION From the point of view of population, Mexico is as little known, as from the Geographical. One speaks of the Mexican people and of the characteristics of such people, without taking into consideration that the Mexi- can people, or the Mexican race is not a well defined element, but an agglomeration which has been constantly changing dur- ing the past four hundred years, and is still in way of forma- tion. Before the Spanish conquest, hundreds of indigenous races existed, of such distinct and opposite characteristics, that it would be difficult to find another country in the world possessing such a number of different races. It is for facility's sake that we speak of the "Mexican Indian," instead of speaking of the hundred of indigenous races of Mexico. After the Spanish conquest the indigenous population became enslaved. Later through the efforts of the Spanish friars to protect the aborigene races of Mexico, the Indians ceased being slavies, to fall into a condition of legal incapacity. Subsequent to the Conquest, a mixed or mestizos population began to be, and it is still continuing and modifying its develop- ment day by day. In Mexico there is not a mixed population, properly speaking, with characteristics different from those of the Indian, or dif- ferent from those of the white. We have a varying mixed popu- lation, which in certain strata are very near to the Indian, and in others cknnot be discerned from the white. For the rest, the case with which whites mix with mestizos, and the latter with Indians, produces the fact that in Mexico the race question properly speaking does not exist. There is meriply a question of education, for as soon as the Indian has been educated, he actually takes his rank by the side of the mestizos. The population problem consists in unifying the mixed race by means of education and intercrossing with' the Indian race, stiiving to secure the constant dissolving of the immigrant white races into the m^ed race. This problem does not present difficulties as regards the in- tercrossing of the Indian race with the mixed race, but it is very serious as regards dissolving the white immigrants. The white immigration of Mexico as regards numbers, can be clas- sified in the following order: Spanish, North American, French, Italians, English and Germans. Of the white immigrants to, Mexico the Spaniard nearly al- ways blends with the native, so that after a generation it may be said that all the Spaniards become Mexicans. We may say the same thing of the Italian and immigrants of Semitic origin: Arabians, Armenians, etc. After the Spaniards and the Italian, the German assimilates best, and becomes Mexican in two gen- erations. The German frequently marries a Mexican woman and settles permanently in the country. French comes after the German, as regarding facility of blending. The American immigrant very seldom becomes Mexican. The very small percentage of American immigrants who settle permanently in Mexico or who marry Mexican women, pre- serve American citizenship, educate their children abroad, and it may be said that ninety-five per cent, of American immigrants remain always American, socially, politically, and ethically. The English immigrant rarely becomes Mexican. Hardly ever does he marry a Mexican woman and his children are always educated abroad. These brief explanations respecting -the tendencies to assimi- late the white population, reveal also many political and eco- nomical questions which exist in Mexico regarding the situation of foreigners. EDUCATION The lack of education of the indigenous population, is the only obstacle to dissolve the Indian population into the mixed one. Mexico has a problem of education. It will suffice to say that there are 80% of illiterate in our country. Education in Mexico has had many obstacles. The principal ones have been the landlord system, which has created the peon class, in truth serfs to do the work, and the action of the Roman Catholic Church during the nineteenth century, which has assisted landlordism to preserve ignorance in the indigenous masses. The activities of the Spanish friars in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, and of the Catholic clergy in general dur- ing those centuries, may be said to have been constantly bene- ficial for the indigenous race. However, when the clergy ac- quired vast wealth and the Church became the great land owner, then the beneficial work of the Catholic Church for the educa- tion of the indigenous races of Mexico and the Mexican rural population in general, ceased to exist and there began a counter- 8 movement. The tendency of the Church then was directed to maintain the rural population in ignorance. The previous Governments, either were not aware of the prob- lem or did not wish to educate the Indian and the proletariat. The best proof of the failure of the Catholic Church as an edu- cator of the Indians, is that after the Church has had four hun- dred years of absolute dominion in educational matters, we still have 80% of illiterates in Mexico. The tendency of the Revolutionary Government is, not only to remove the obstacles that the Mexican Government might have, but to devote a considerable portion of its efforts and of the public funds to the education of the masses of the people. RELIGIOUS PROBLEM Properly speaking, Mexict) has no religious problem. The Spanish system of patronage which was extended to the Catho- lic Church by the Spanish kings, gave an almighty temporal power to the clergy, which lasted up to 1860. In this year owing to the War of Reform, the Church was dispossessed of its prop- erty, incapacitated to acquire real estate, and deprived of tem- poral power. During the long Government of General Diaz, the Catholic clergy creeping on from point to point, in concealed form, re- covered much of its temporal power and rebuilt part of its fortune. At present some members of the Catholic clergy have a tendency to recover the temporal power which the Church had enjoyed previous to 1860. The tendency of the Revolutionary Government is to render effective the absolute separation of Church from State, and to prevent the Mexican clergy from recovering its temporal power, leaving it, however, in the most absolute liberty as regards religious matters. AGRARIAN PROBLEM The Agrarian Problem of Mexico depends on the geographical and ethnical conditions of the country. The Spanish colonial system of huge land grants, the con- stant absorption of real estate by the clergy during the eigh- teenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century, the system of concession of Government lands adopted during the second half of the nineteenth century, created and continued a state of landlordism which has been the chief cause of the unrest in Mexico during the nineteenth century. As a consequence of this landlordism, there has been'produced a constant condition of serfdom among the rural classes of Mex- ico, known as peonage. The Agrarian Problem of Mexico con- sists in the destruction of landlordism to facilitate the forma- tion of small farms, as also to effect the granting of "commons" to the villages. The Agrarian Problem includes the division or parcelling of large estates, and a system of taxes upon rural property to prevent the reconstruction of large estates. Up-to-date it may be said that large rural estates have practically never paid taxes. NATURAL RESOURCES The lack of Mexican capital has been the reason that mining and other Mexican industries have not been developed save through foreign capital. The Spanish Government believed that the economical devel- opment of Mexico should be based on land monopoly, and also on commercial privileges granted to Spaniards born in the motlier country. In the exploitation of the natural wealth of Mexico, the sys- tem followed by the past administration, and especially by that of General Diaz, was of granting concessions so intrenched in privilege, that further competition become impossible. This sys- tem of privileges and monopoly, comprised not only the min- ing, petroleum and water power industries, but all kinds of in- dustries and manufactures, commerce and banking. It may be said that in general the economic development of Mexico during the administration of General Diaz, was the development of big business based on privilege. The general tendency of the Revolutionary Government of Mexico, is to obtain an economic development based on un- shackled competition, and of such a nature that the develop- ment of existing business may not prevent future commerce ;»"d industry. From this point of view, foreign capital, invested in Mexico upon the system of privilege, considers itself attacked by the 10 present revolution. However, if we understand the general tendency of the Mexican Revolution, we find that it opens a field of action for the investment of foreign capital much wider than that existing heretofore. COMMERCIAL PROBLEM The lack of fluvial navigation and the great height of the Central Plateau above the sea level, the uneven topography, have compelled Mexico to rely upon a scant system of railways. Due to this, Mexico's commerce has been effected on false bases. It has been simply importation and exportation with foreig-n countries, without developing domestic interchange of products. Commerce 'itself has been to a great extent, the only fount of fiscal revenue, principally, the commerce of importation. For a long time exports and even raw materials have been free from duty. The tendency of the Revolutionary Government consists in controlling the railways, these being the only ways of com- munication that the country has. It purposes also to develop other ways by utilizing the forces which lie latent in Mexico : oil and water power. * INDUSTRIAL PROBLEM The industrial development of Mexico dates from the last twenty years. Its basis has been artificial. It has consisted of an excessive protection to infant industry, rendering them uncertain and precarious, owing to lacl< of mercantile bases, and they have prevented the establishment of competing in- dustries. The tendency of the Revolutionary Government is to place the industrial development of the country upon a business basis, leaving aside the system of protection, concession, privileges, and monopoly, which has been until now the bases of what little development- has been effected. POLITICAL PROBLEM The diversity of type of civilization of the Indian, the mestizo and the white, constitutes in Mexico a serious social and politi- cal problem which may be set forth by saying that it is nece,'?- ■ 11 sary to find a formula of Government which may serve at the same time for a type of medieval civilization as is the mestizo, and for a type of modern civilization, as is the foreign immigrant or the educated Creole. If this is not possible, it would be neces- sary to find various governmental formulas and various regimes for each one of the elements forming Mexico's population. Up to the time of General Diaz, the political laws of Mexico have, been based on advanced theories, but these have never been rendered effective. This produced inequality, juridic and economical. The political problem of Mexico consists in ren- dering effective the political and civil law. In order to do this it is necessary above all to find the legal and political formulas, so that after these laws have been promulgated, it may be pos- sible to apply them efficaciously, thus securing equality of rights among all men. INTERNATIONAL PROBLEMS The international problems of Mexico deserve special atten- tion. The main political international problem of Mexico consists in her relations with the United States. After the 1847 war, which cost Mexico half of her territory, Mexicans have not been able to regain confidence in regard to the imperialistic tendency that the Latin-American countries attribute to the United States. During the Mexican revolu- tion, after the occupation of Vera Cruz and the Columbus ex- pedition, the fears of Mexicans of a conflict with the United States have increased considerably, chiefly since it is known that one of the political parties of the United States frankly advocates intervention. The repeated and public statements of no intervention made by the Democratic Government of the United States, have not been sufficient to allay the fears of Mexicans. As a neighbor of the United States, Mexico will also have as an international problem the danger of a conflict between the United States and some other European or Asiatic power. The foes of the United States, who are always foes of the whole American Continent, will certainly assume to be friends of Mex- ico, and will try to take advantage of any sort of resentment, 12 feeling or distrust that Mexico may have against United States. ~ Mexico, nevertheless, understands that in case of a conflict between the United States and any other nation outside of America, her attitude must be one of complete Continental solidarity. From this viewpoint, the Revolutionary Government has fol- lowed a policy of frankness and consistency in her relations with the United States, always putting her deeds in accordance with her words, and sincerely trying to reach an understanding with the people and the Government of the United States. Within Mexico, the real international problem means the pro- tection of foreign life and property and the condition of for- eigners in regard to natives. On account of the non-enforce- ment of the political and civil laws in favor of Mexicans, and on account of the always watchful diplomatic protection that for- eigners have enjoyed, a sort of privileged condition has arisen little by little in favor of foreigners. Mexico has the problem of equalizing the condition of Mexicans and foreigners, not by lowering foreigners, but by raising the condition of natives. The privileged condition of foreigners that has existed in Mex- ico for a long time, has produced a certain jealousy and distrust with which Mexicans look upon the increase of immigration and foreign investments in Mexico, since such increase would be considered as the strengthening of a privileged class. The problem for Mexico is to find the way in which foreign money and immigrants can freely come to Mexico and contribute to her progress without becoming a privileged class, that is to say, that instead of becoming a growing menace to the sover- eignty of Mexico, they will contribute to the consolidation of her sovereignty and independence as a nation. All the problems heretofore stated have always been complex and greatly misunderstood. The old regime had created such interests and those interests were so strongly bound with the Government, that during the last years of the Government of General Diaz it was quite clear that no peaceful solution was attainable. The transformation of the whole system by congressional action trying to change the laws and the Government at large, as well as the economical conditions of the country, would have Required probably a whole 13 century of efforts, and still it is not sure that such solution would be reached or that in the meantime civil war would not have broken out. After the election of General Diaz in 1910, it was well under- stood that the purpose of such election was to perpetuate the same form of Government and the same system as had been followed. The people saw that it was impossible to transform anything by peaceful methods. The Mexican people then had to resort to force in order to destroy a regime which was contrary to its liberty, develop- ment and welfare. The last six years of internal upheaval of a chaotic appear- ance, mean for Mexico a process of sociological transformation of her people. The scientific interpretation of the Mexican Revolution is not possible, unless facts are taken as a whole and a considerable period of time is analyzed. All oj us know that matters of ut- most irhportance are analyzed and studied and conclusions are drawn from incomplete facts in every day reading newspapers of the United States, which is the only way in which it is impos- sible to draw sane conclusions from facts. I have never seen a country, either in Europe or in South America, where conclusions are drawn or editorials are written save after a reasonable time has justified the drawing of such conclusions. But in the United States the rush of public curi- osity for facts is misunderstood as an eager curiosity for ideas, and so this is the only country in the world where we can see that an editorial comes the same morning in which a mere rumor on some subject is published. This way of studying sociological facts, sounds to me like an attempt of a Physics student who studies the swing of the pendulum, instead of waiting that the whole swing is complete and that a certain number of swings have occurred, would be in such eagerness of finding scientific conclusions of any of the positions of the pendulum and would take any moment of the swing proceeding to calculate the exact direction in which the center of the earth is placed. The conclusion of that student would be that the earth is mad and that its center is changing foolishly. 4 « It has been said that the Mexican Revolution is not properly a revolution, but rftere anarchy ; that countries at peace consider 14 dangerous and intolerable. Nevertheless, if we can demon- strate with facts that the Mexican Revolution has followed ex- actly the natural course of any other revolution, and if it can be demonstrated that even at the present time the Revolution- ary Government of Mexico is pursuing a well defined program of reconstruction, one must necessarily reach the conclusion that the Mexican people are not acting madly, nor blindly destroying her wealth and her men, but performing a task of transformation beneficial and indispensable, from which results are expected that will reward the sacrifices that are now being made. It will appear indeed as strange and bold, and it will per- haps shock to a certain extent, especially the members of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and of the Pennsylvania Arbitration and Peace Society, that in a scientific and pacifist audience like this, some one cqmes to make the apology of force and insurrection as a means of securing the liberty and welfare of her people. T am not trying to impose my views, but simply applying sociological criterion to facts that have occurred in Mexico. When a system of work is right, but we fail to obtain results from our efforts for lack of efficiency, the task of the reformer consists in improving that system. But when a system is radi- cally wrong, we must abandon that system and find a better one. The gradual and slow reform of a system to make it suit the requirements of a man, of a business enterprise, of an institution or of a country, is called evolution. The abandonment of a sys- tem to be replaced by another, is called a revolution. The use of force is not essential to a revolution ; but the revo- lution in the personal conduct of men, in business or in com- munities, implies always a considerable effort and a great amount of sacrifice. Historically, we can assert that with very few exceptions, the greatest conquests of human liberty and human welfare have not been made without large sacrifices of men and property. In sociology, the revolution is the rebellion of a people against a social system that has been found wrong. But as every social system is embodied in certain laws and in a certain political' organization, revolution appears always as a violation of ex- 15 , , isting laws and as an insurrection against the Government. Hence all revolutions appear as anarchical attempts to destroy society and this is also why most insurrections are called revo- lutions. A revolution means the use of force to destroy an unsatis- factory system and the employment of force and intelligence to build the new system. A revolution has consequently two clearly defined stages, the destructive, nearly always a period of war, and rebellion against the so-called established Government, and the stage of disa- vowal of most of the existing laws, which means the use of force against the social, economic and legal system. When the old regime has been destroyed, the mere re-estab- lishment of legal order without any change, would be tantamount to the simple reconstruction of the same structure already de- stroyed. This is what sometimes makes revolutions fail. To avoid this, any revolution has a second stage, that is always known as the period of revolutionary government. During this second period, force is also employed in the form of a dictatorial Government, to establish the required reforms, that is to say, to lay the foundations of the new social economic and political structure. After every revolution, a period of dictatorial in- terregnum has always followed, because revolutionary dictator- ship means the use of force for reconstruction. When the foundations of reconstructions have been laid down, then it is possible to return to a legal regime no longer based upon the old legislation nor upon the obsolete system but upon new principles that become the new legal system, that is to say, the new regime. The French Revolution has been the most complete example of a revolution, with its frankly destructive period, its anarchic state, its revolutionary government and its new regime upon which France afterwards developed, and we also can say upon which the rest of Europe has subsequently developed. The Mexican Revolution was nothing more than the insur- rection of the Mexican people against a very repressive and wealthy regime represented by the Government of General Diaz, and against a social, political and economic system supporting such a Government. Said revolution had as its prodromes the political insurrection of Madero. But Madero saw no more than the political side of 16 the Mexican situation. He professed that a change of Govern- ment was sufficient to bring about a change in the general con- ditions of the country. Madero compromised with the Diaz regime and acquiesced in taking charge of his Government, and ruled the country with the same laws, same proceedings and even with the same men with whom General Diaz had ruled. The logical consequence was that Madero had to fail because he had not destroyed the old nor attempted to rebuild a new regime. The assassination of Madero and the dictatorship of Huerta were mere attempts at reaction made by the old regime with its same men, its same money and its same proceedings, and at- tempting to re-establish exactly the same old conditions that existed under General Diaz. The Constitutionalist Revolution set forth its line of con- duct from the very beginning. The Plan of Guadalupe issued by Mr. Carranza in March 1913, immediately after the assassina- tion of Madero, is the straightest revolutionary proclamation that could be imagined to destroy an old regime. Said plan meant the absolute disavowal of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Powers that had existed up to that time, and authorized the use of force for the destruction of Huerta's Government, which was being supported by General Diaz' army, by the power of the land owner and by the moral influence of the Catholic clergy. A period of blood followed, and when Huerta was finally de- feated and the Chief of the Constitutionalist Revolution reached the City of Mexico, it was believed that the destructive period of the Mexican Revolution was at an end. But a period of an extremely chaotic and anarchic character necessarily followed. At the end of 1914 the Mexican situation was most puzzling and bewildering, and still it was at that very moment and in the middle of such an extreme confusion, that Don Venustiano Car- ranza, as the Chief of the Constitutionalist Revolution, set forth the general outlines upon which the reconstruction of Mexico was to be carried out. Said outlines are embodied in the decree of December 12th, 1914, which I will quote here as the best interpretation of the basic lines upon which the new regime anil the new social sys- tem were to be found. 17 i Said decree in substance indicates that whereas the use of force had been required to overthrow the Huerta Government and in view of the chaotic conditions of the country, it was necessary to use the same force to continue the struggle until peace should be attained, and to reconstruct the new regime. The main provisions of said decree read as follows : "Art. 1. The Plan of Guadalupe of the 26th of March, 1913 shall rema:in in force until the complete triumph of the Revo- lution. Consequently, Citizen Venustiano Carranza will con- tinue as First Chief of the Constitutionalist Revolution and in Charge of the Executive Power of the Nation, until such time as the enemy is vanquished and peace is restored. "Art. 2. The First Chief of the Revolution, in Charge of the Executive Power, will issue and put in force during the struggle all such laws, regulations and measures that may satisfy the economic, social and political requirements of the country, carry- ing out such reforms as public opinion may require to establish a regime to guarantee the equality among all Mexicans, to wit : Agrarian laws that may facilitate the creation of small -property, parcelling the large estates and restoring to the villages the commons of which they were unjustly dispossessed; fiscal laws tending to reach an equitable system of taxation upon real estate ; legislation to better the condition of rural laborers, work- ing men, miners and in general of all the proletariat; establish- ment of municipal liberty as a constitutional institution ; basis for a new system of organization of the army ; reform of the electoral system to obtain actual suffrage ; organization of an independent judicial power both in the Federation and the States ; revision of laws relating to marriage and civil status of persons ; regulations that will guarantee the strict enforce- ment of the Reform Laws; revision of the civil, criminal and commercial codes ; reformation of judicial proceedings for the purpose of obtaining a rapid and efficient administration of justice; revision of laws relative to the exploitation of mines, oil, waters, forests and other natural resources of the country in order to destroy monopolies created by the old* regime and to avoid the formation of new monopolies in the future ; political reforms that may guarantee the real enforcement of the Con- stitution of the Republic, and in general of such other laws as may be considered necessary to ensure to the inhabitants of the country the real and full enjoyment of their rights and equality before the law. 18 ' 16 "Art. 4. At the triumph of the Revolution, when the Su- preme Power be reinstated in the City of Mexico and after municipal elections take place in most of the States of the Republic, the First Chief of the Revolution, in Charge of the Executive Power, will call elections for the Federal Congress fixing the proclamation, the dates and conditions in which said elections must take place. "Art. 5. When the national Congress assembles, the First Chief of the Revolution will report to it concerning his steward- ship of the power vested upon him by this decree, and he will especially submit the reforms issued and put in force during the struggle, so that Congress may ratify, amend or supplement them, and raise to the rank of constitutional provisions such laws as may have to^ take that character; all before the establishment of constitutional order." The reading of this decre£ is of utmost importance to all who seem to be confused by events developing in Mexico since the overthrow of Huerta, and to those who only see in Mexico an incomprehensible condition of anarchy. It will be of still greater importance to know that this de- cree has been the rule under which the construction of Mexico is being made by the Revolutionary Government. Students of the Revolution of Mexico from a disinterested and scientific point of view, should keep in mind, as lines of interpretation of events occurred during the last six years, the following points, which might be at the same time a sort of in- dex to the chapters for a most extended study of the Mexican situation : I. Causes of the Mexican Revolution as deriving from the political and economic development of the country up to the end of the nineteenth century ; II. Prodromes of the Mexican Revolution until the death of Madero; III . De- struction of the political and military powers of the old regime, until August, 1914; IV. Destruction of the eponomic power of the old regime during the preconstitutional period (1915-1916) ; V. Beginning of the reconstruction. , . Such has been the development of the M-exican Revolution, and such is the interpretation of past, present and future oc- currences in regard to this Revolution. Such has to be the interpretation, rerardless of who are the men in the Government. v 19 ;^ • If Carranza and the men around him are personally over- powered by the new anarchic period, and if they have to die or get out, that would not mean that my conclusions were wrong. It would only mean that a man is not always a span between two regimes. There have been cases in which a revolution has been completed during the life of a man, be he Cromwell or Washington. Some other times a long list of heroes and martyi-s is required to complete a transformation of the people, from Mirabeau to Napoleon. In Mexico we have had three revolutions. Our revolution of Independence in 1810, was not carried out by a single man. Hidalgo initiated it and died without seeing the end. Morelos continued and also passed away before our country was free. Guerrero was the only one who saw the consummation of our independence. In 1857 it only took Juarez to see the beginning and the end of the Reform Revolution. The present Revolution has already consumed Madero. If Carranza does not see the end of this movement, that will not change the development of the revolution. It will only mean that Carranza himself and the men around him are no more than a link in the chain of men who will sacrifice their lives for the liberty and the welfare of the Mexican people. To close my remarks I wish to reiterate my apologies to the audience, and especially to the members of the American Acad- emy of Political and Social Science and of the Pennsylvania Arbitration and Peace Society, for the theme I have chosen for this conference. I sincerely believe that the people of this country need to study the Mexican Revolution, not only for the sake of their interest toward Mexico, nor for their own interest alone as our neighbors, but also as an example of an economic and social revolution that is taking place in the twentieth century. I wish a great prosperity and a long peace to this country, and that the solution of all its problems be made by peaceful methods. Nations nevertheless, when they make mistakes in their development, have to make a revolutron. If such a revo- lution can be made without alteration of peace, the unnecessary evils of a revolution can be avoided and all the benefit that a revolution necessaril}'- brings about will be reaped. 20 10 Bernard Shaw says that revolution is a national institution in England, because the English people, through democratic pro- ceedings, can make a revolution every seven years, if they choose to do so. The Anglo-Saxon referendum is no more than a right to peaceful revolution. The Mexican people do not enjoy that blessing, and have been obliged to engage in a bloody and costly revolution to attain their liberty and welfare. There is a reason. A revolution is not only a source of evil and tears, just as fire does not always produce devastation. Unexplored wildernesses of the Temperate Zone can be open to agriculture by exploiting the forest wealth and at the same time preparing the soil for future cultivation. In tropical countries, however, the common way of opening fields to cultivation is to clear them with a great fire that con- sumes much natural wealth indeed, but which at the same time rapidly devours the jungle and by purifying and fertilizing the soil, saves a great amount of work. 21 / / Kindly Rettirn Cats To LATIN-AMERICAN NEWS ASSOCIATION 1400 Broadway, New York )WARDS SINGLE TAX IN MEXICO By M. C. ROLLAND, Civil Engineer e all passions, above all the ap- y personal strug-gles, above all jblems so difficult to explain to nerican public, rises, from the n Revolution, an ideal which is more clearly defined, a strong- cy towards the conquest of the lie welfare of that people, inter- r the necessity of establishing- imate communion between the r and the soil, of doing- away he unjust manner in which the have lived under the feudal tax occasion to develop his administrative labors with perfect tranquility. The great problem of the Land was attacked there with surprising energy, and the author of this article was ap- pointed to organize the Agrarian Com- mission and that of the Property Census, in order to distribute land among the Indians and to carry out the re-valuation of the properties in the State, so as to impose a just tax. An advanced law was passed relative to lands, under which the men who at $32,000,000.00. After carrying into effect a rough appraisement, the valu- ation amounted to $231,000,000.00 and at present the State of Yucat5.n is receiv- ing about $3,000,000.00 revenue. This means that it has been possible to raise from the shoulders of the needy a large part of the load burden under which they were staggering, which xi- mo.st rru.ghed them and which merely permitted them to starve. A similar occurrence has taken place at present throughout Mexico in al- Oomniisston headed by Engineer Modesto C. Rolland, appointed by General Salvador Alvarado, Governor ot Yucatan, 3Icx., to organize the distribution o£ land to the Indians of that State. and the imperative need to n opportunity to the masses to te themselves and to rid them natism. These are great ideals have risen above the ocean of spilled, which has served to r them and to crystalize them tangible facts in the several ; of the Republic where peace is Jy cemented. This is especially of the State of Yucatdn, where 1^1 Alvarado has had, for a period ,fcing more than two years, the are so desirous, can easily and method- ically go towards the bounties of nature. At the same time, the Rural Credit is being organized, a step abso- lutely necessary in order to redeem the field laborer from the power of usury. Formerly, the owners of lands in the State of Yucat&n did not pay any taxes, or if they. paid any, it was an irrisory sum: the total collected throughout the State amounted to SnO.OOO — on urban and rural property. The whole properties were appraised most all the States. The earnest wi^h of Constitutionalism is to place the Republic on a new basis, so that the expanses of the government fall on the rich and not on the destitute; and the efforts made towards this end will soon show results of immense social transcendence, for that people, sunk until a short time ago, in the darkest feudalism, will raise its head and bless for ever the memory of the heroes fal- len in the struggle. ^ Does Mexico Interest You? Then you should read the following pamphlets: What the Catholic Church Has Done for Mexico, by Doctor, Paganel ( «« ^« The Agrarian Law of Yucatan ( ^\J.xv The Labor Law of Yucatan International Labor Forum Intervene in Mexico, Not to Make, but to End War, urges I « - ^ Mr. Hearst, with reply by Holland ) The President's Mexican Policy, by F. K. Lane '^ The Religious Question in Mexico j A Reconstructive Policy in Mexico > 0.10 Manifest Destiny ; What of Mexico ) Speech of General Alvarado > 0.10 Many Mexican Problems ) Charges Against the Diaz Admirtistration ". ^ Carranza V 0.10 Stupenduous Issues ) Minister of the Catholic Cult ) Star of Hope for Mexico > 0.10 Land Question in Mexico ; Open Letter to the Editor of the Chicago Tribune, Chicago, 111. ) How We Robbed Mexico in 1848, by Robert H. Howe > 0.10 What the Mexican Conference Really Means ; The Economic Future of Mexico We also mail any of the^ pamphlets upon receipt of 5c each. Address all communications to LATIN-AMERICAN NEWS ASSOCIATION 1400 Broadway, New York City