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A $4 #3; ; ; ; ; * ***, *če º ' º Kºš:...ºft. *…* 'tºº ** * * * tº #: *::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: *** **, *, * ***ś..…. . . . .'; ºr ** -- : ***** *** ******* *śeº- :-jºº, ‘A-ºr wºº & #4 ºv §:::::::::::::1; .######## §:::::::::::::::: ** 0R MUTILATE CARD :*...:”. :::::::::::: : ::::::::::::::::::: #::::::::::::::::: :::::::::: *:::::: †. ãº: º:::::::::: ::::::::::::::: 5 wº 3::::::::::::::: º: hº- 'ºts º º º EE ###### tº-3 gº-ººººººººº tº tº: : ######## （ºr: ---------- ~~~I-I-------. MEXICO REBORN The Processes at Work for the Regeneration of the Nation by JULIUS MORITZEN . Author of “The Peace Movement of America,” etc. “The War and a Greater Scandinavia,” etc. DISTRIBUTION OF LAND IN YUCATAN, MEXICO. Published by - LATIN-AMERICAN NEWS ASSOCIATION 1400 Broadway, New York City PATIO DE MINERIA. Inner Court in Mining School, Mexico City. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL IN MIXCOAC, MEXICO. MEXICO REBORN By JULIUS MORITZEN Viewed dispassionately, the Mexican problem differs little from the problems that have confronted other nations in their progress from dependence to full-fledged liberty. . The very nearness of Mexico to the United States, however, has tended, in numerous ways, to obscure the vision as to the causes and effects of the revolutionary movement across the Rio Grande. Further than this, while most national transitions have been concerned with throwing off shackles placed on the people from without, Mexican liberation is the result of an internal purify- ing process whereby those in high places, having abused their trust, were compelled to step down and permit restorative meas- ures to gain the ascendence. “We shall establish, by means of our laws, the welfare to which the citizen of any and every country is entitled; we shall produce a transformation in international legislation which has become a necessity.” In this terse sentence, from a speech by General Carranza, delivered at San Luis Potosi, December 26th, 1915, there is summed up the complete political program of reconstruction of the Mexican Constitutionalists. This declaration of independ- ence perforce casts off the yoke of the taskmaster. It reveals the Mexican character as something different than merely a soldier of the revolution. Constructive statesmanship is seen as the great promise on the horizon of the neighboring re- public. Partisan rivalry, or struggle for leadership, vanishes into thin air when a nation’s future is at stake. Has Carranza kept faith with his conscience when he refused to follow Huerta on the latter's unholy path from traitorous complicity in the murder of President Madero to the dictatorship 2 Are the Constitu- tionalists nearer their goal today than when jealous reaction- aries attempted to tear into tatters the fabric spun with blood and tears against a common foe 2 What are the forces at work for the purpose of a regenerated Mexico? The writer, traces his main interest in the Mexican people and their aspirations to an address delivered by Luis Cabrera, minister of finance in the Carranza government, before the Clark University conference on Latin America, at Worcester, Mass, in November, 1913. No other speaker so stirred the audiences during the Several days of the conference as did this man who bore a message that came straight from the heart. Mr. Cabrera's plea for a compassionate examination of the Mexi- can problem was made in the face of other arguments aiming -- 3-.... *- Aº to uphold the rule of Porfirio Diaz as ideally suited to the needs of Mexico. In many subsequent conversations with the chair- man of the Mexican Joint Commission it has been borne home that however much the travail essential to the regeneration of the republic, the underlying idealism is the only real founda- tion for a government that is to last. That is the reason why Mexicans actuated by the highest sense of loyalty to their land refuse to accept make-shift policies bound to be but for the moment. It is for this reason that President Wilson’s “watch- ful waiting” has proved to be in accord with what is best under the existing circumstances. Mistakes there have been made on both sides of the border in regard, not so much to motives, as to methods. But, high above parleys and discussions floats the standard that means America for the Americans. Mexico has subscribed to this despite all that may be said regarding internal strife. To make known some of the chief agencies mak- ing for the greater Mexico is the purpose of this article. CARRANZA AS A SYMBOL The least understood personality in all Mexico is General Venustiano Carranza, the de facto head of the Mexican govern- ment. Why is this so? Has not General Carranza been plenti- fully in the public eye? Have not friends and foes admired and hated him according to their conceptions of the man? Have not his public acts marked him for what he is, viewed as he has been from this or that angle P All this is true. But the 1eadership vested in the First Chief of the Constitutionalists is more like an authoritative interpretation of all that the nation has suffered and hoped for long before even Porfirio Diaz let go his iron rule. It is not in Carranza to be a master of men in the ordinary sense of that term. If he is today a disci- plinarian it is because that is the necessary means to a certain end. If there are those who consider the de facto head unap- proachable, it is not because Carranza is not most kindly dis- posed towards all. As a matter of fact, Venustiano Carranza’s personality and characteristics have nothing whatever to do with the principle for which he stands before the world. He merely symbolizes a great ideal. Restoration of the land to the natives; improved school facilities; elevating the position of the women of Mexico; utilizing the national wealth as bound up in the soil; establishing harmonious relations with her neigh- bors, these are some of the chief aims of the country, and Car- ranza unquestionably understands better than anyone else that the charge imposed on him is a privilege to be guarded most zealously without personal reward. º & Those misled by superficial judgment or impatient because of what they considered a too slow progress, have been prone to say that the establishment of complete peace in Mexico depends only on the energy with which the country is governed. Let us hear how Mr. Cabrera met these assertions at the Worcester 4 ºrs. gathering on that memorable day in November three years agO. - - “All foreigners in Mexico,” Mr. Cabrera said, “look for a strong government, an iron hand or iron fist, and the only thing. they discuss is whether a certain man is sufficiently strong or energetic to govern the country. And when they find a man . . with such qualities, foreigners always have believed that it was their duty to help that man to come into power and support him. It is necessary to rectify foreign opinion about strong govern- ments in Mexico. A strong government is not the one able to maintain peace by the mere force of arms, but the one which can obtain the support of the majority of the country. Any peace obtained by the system of the iron fist is only a temporary peace. Permanent peace in Mexico must be based on certain economic, political and social conditions which would produce a stable equilibrium between the higher and the lower classes of the nation.” g The idea of impersonal leadership among Latin Americans is a thought so new that few realize that it is scarcely less revolutionary than the effort of the people themselves to be- come free in all that the word imports. The Man on Horse- back has always been the dominant figure in any uplift move- ment among the republics of South and Central America. Presi- dent Diaz was the personification of such a type. Democratic as he was to a fault, Francisco Madero held brief power through an emotionalism that, well meaning as it was, failed utterly to weigh the “pros” and “cons” where suddenly a nation, held in virtual bondage, felt the first exhiliration of new found free- dom. - Carranza, on the other hand, came upon the scene when re- action threatened to undo everything that Madero had aspired to achieve. There was no thought of leadership when the former governor of Coahuila left his pleasant farmstead to stay the hand of the usurper, Huerta. How can it be for- gotten with what scorn Carranza spurned the offer of Huerta to join issues with him 1 No, whoever avers that the First Chief has personal ambitions beyond what is necessary to ad- Vance the good of Mexico, fails utterly to comprehend his motive. His very sincerity of purpose, in fact, his enemies have falsely interpreted as meaning disrespect to the neighbor with whom above all others he desires to remain at peace. No character study of this man will aid in deciphering his psychological makeup. For Carranza is Mexico incarnate; México, not as it has been for years and years, but the Mexico of the future. Yes, may come the answer to this; but if Carranza is so little a Prey to personal ambition, why does he not obliterate him. self, instead of running the risk of being charged with ambitious designs? Let it be understood once for all that Venustiano Car- . ranza is no coward. To let go the leadership in the face of intrigue within and without the land would have Stamped him. as unworthy of the great task resting upon his shoulders. The 5 “… Washington administration realizes this. It is not for nothing that President Wilson looks compassionately across the Rio Grande and views with all the anxiety of a parent the newer republic of Mexico trying to find itself. Is it not a fact that the ` re-election of Woodrow Wilson emphasizes that after all the American people wants Mexico to shape her own destiny? What better evidence that the ties are being strengthened be- tween the two countries than that the commonwealths nearest the Mexican border gave consent to the President's Mexican policies through a vote of confidence? Let be that Carranza is not well versed in the usages of diplomacy as practised fre- quently to the detriment of the nations represented by suave statesmen.' But he is honest with himself, and no other man could have done half as well as he under circumstances similar to those that have confronted him. - - ... • SOLVING THE LAND QUESTION While interest in the Mexican situation, from the American point of view, has centered on the Joint High Commission and its work at Atlantic City, it may not be without value to take a look across the border and see what is being done apart from the military exigencies. . A monumental work is under way in the state of Yucatan, where Governor Salvador Alvarado has been superintending the distribution of land to the Indians. It is, of course, true that by reason of its location Yucatan escaped largely the depredations of the bands that sprung into existence at the instance of Villa’s defection. But this merely clinches the argument that when it is possible for Yucatan to do justice to the peons, the same can be done elsewhere through- out the republic when normal conditions are once fully re- stored. The New York Times, in a recent interview with Modesto C. Rolland, who is doing a constructive work, in the United States through familiarizing Americans with the Educational movement now under way in his native Mexico, said pointedly : “Many preconceived, commonly held, matter of course notions about Mexico melt away under the spell of Modesto C. Rolland’s faith and optimism. You go to him with that superior feel- ing of the citizen of a great, prosperous, peaceful, well-governed country toward the savage, but nevertheless determined to be kind and considerate, almost apologetic, while asking him why, if he knows, his country is such a Dark Age disgrace to the American hemisphere and if it will ever be any different.” - Then follows Mr. Rolland’s answer. He tells in simple words that the world at large judges his country solely by those accidents incident to the revolution itself. But to Mr. Rokland the revolution has been a great promise. Here and there through the republic, he affirms, there has already been fulfillment. A new national life has been created under the Social, political and economic conditions which the Mexican people have been 6 hoping for in the course of a century. To quote from the in- terview in Mr. Rolland's own words regarding the land ques- tion: “Of course, the great piece of reconstruction work, has been the redistribution of the land, and this, too, has been done without confiscation. In the first place, we took away from the former holders all the land that they held by fraud. That amounted to many thousands of acres. Then we bought.” " from them as much more as was needed to give to the head of every family a tract of about forty acres. For this we paid in fifty-year gold bonds at 4 per cent. Although we have only just now given title to the small holdings to the farmers we know that the plan is going to work because of the results of two years of experimenting. These small farms were first lent to the people for the two-year period to see what they would do with them and to give all the people the opportunity to find out how they wanted things adjusted before making any- thing final. The forty-acre experiment was a success. No land was awarded except to a man who agreed to work it to the best of his ability for the benefit of his family. No holding was thrust upon anybody whether or no. But of the 50,000 family heads in the state, 40,000 came forward and applied for the farms, and in the two years of probation practically all of them showed themselves fit for ownership.” General Salvador Alvarado, already referred to as the Governor of Yucatan, is a military leader who perceives with all the force of conviction that the army is an expedient, at present necessary, but only in so far as it aids in restoring that order which must precede the fullest development of the republic. Governor Alvarado has but one hobby: education. The culti- vation of the soil from a scientific standpoint, adequate school instruction, better homes and family environments, in the at- taining of all this the Governor of Yucatan is a natural leader whose constructive example is spreading to other sections of Mexico. The Maya Indians certainly have come to call the name of Governor Alvarado blessed. The regenerative effects of his land policy are seen, everywhere in Yucatan. The situa- tion there is now such that where prior to the revolution the 2,000 landowners paid toward the support of the state in taxes for their exclusive use and ownership of something over 70,000 square miles of land $50,000 a year, taxes from the same land paid on an equitable basis both by the 2,000 old landowners and the many thousand new owners of the forty-acre tracts now amount to $3,000,000 annually. Carrying into effect the new agrarian laws has been responsible for this momentous change. $ g *. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, on a recent oc- casion expressed himself regarding the Mexican land question to the effect that the things that Mexico needs are few, but fundamental. He summarized as follows: “Mexico needs a land- tax system which will make it impossible to hold great bodies of idle land for selfish reasons and which will make it unneces- 7 --º" sary for the Government to sell concessions in order to support itself. It also needs a school system by which popular educa- tion may be given to all the people as it is given in the United States. Along with the primary schools, should go agricultural Schools in which modern methods of agriculture should be taught. The army might well be used as a sanitation corps so as to insure against the recurrence of those plagues which so. affect trade relations with Mexico and the health of her people. Every one in Mexico is united upon the proposition that the present land system is based upon privilege and is unjust.” Secretary Lane would be convinced that today Yucatan is making a practical effort to adjust the land problem, were he to visit that Mexican state and see Governor Alvarado at work. The Henry George theory is being applied with remark- able effect. “Tierras y libros”—land and books—is the cry that sounds far and wide through that eastern peninsula of the Mexican republic. -* & The land problem and its solution are uppermost in the minds of all Mexicans with patriotic outlook regarding the future of the country. On this subject Mr. Cabrera said to the writer: “The ‘porfirista’ regime can be defined by saying that it con- sisted in putting the power in the hands of the large land- owners, thus creating a feudal system. The local governments of the different states in Mexico and nearly all the important public offices were in the hands of, or controlled by, wealthy families owning large tracts of land, which of course were in- clined to extend protection to all properties such as theirs. The political, social and economic influence exerted during General Diaz's administration was so advantageous to them that it hampered the development of the small agricultural property, which could otherwise have been formed from the division of ecclesiastical and communal lands.” And Mr. Rolland drives home the complete truth of the situation when he says that “if small landed interest is not created, if the land is not given back to the people, if an equitable tax on the present landholders is not established, in order to make them relinquish their prey; if, in a word, the fortress of the Mexican family is not built by means of the communion of the peon with the land, it will be senseless to speak of ‘government’ in Mexico. But the present revolution, having been all this, appreciates its importance and is trying to help the people.” - Herein lies the hope of Mexico’s future. The hour has struck for the return of the soil to its rightful Owners. From Car- ranza down to the least of those identified with the Constitu- ºtionalist cause, the land problem is considered the most im- portant matter before the nation at this time, Aside from what is being done toward proper division of land among the peons in districts where complete Order has already been restored, plans are under way to allot a certain number of acres of cultiv- able soil to returning Constitutionalist soldiers after the country is fully at peace. General Carranza and his advisers have not 8 adopted a cut and dried program regarding the division of land held wrongfully or belonging to the government, but as con- ditions arise the problem is to be solved for the very best ad- vantage of those whom it is meant to benefit primarily, the peons so recently released from what amounted to little less than slavery while attached to the great landed properties. It requires no genius to realize that many serious questions ask for their answer in the neighboring republic. Progress will of necessity be slow. No people can pass through the purifying fire of internal adjustment without serious obstacles standing in the way. The Mexican revolution sprang from a great need, the cry of the masses for land that might supply ºf . their necessities in order to make existence livable. Land aná/ general education, in these is summed up the salvation of Mexico. MORE TEACHERS AND BETTER scHools The writer has knowledge of one striking fact that emphasizes with compelling force how much General Carranza has at heart proper School instruction. It was during the months immedi- ately following the Huerta military coup and Carranza’s stern opposition to the usurper. Everything spoke of militarism, force to rebuke force. The First Chief had gathered around him men who felt as he did, namely that Madero's murder was not to be condoned through inactivity on the part of those loyal to their country. And in the midst of all this military activity, Carranza brought together two score or more of men and women already in some measure identified with education in the republic. While money was not plenty in the Constitutionalist group, never- theless means were provided for sending these persons to the United States to study the public school systems. In Boston and other eastern centers these men and women at once be- gan their task, investigating and studying American popular teaching in all its branches. The earnestness with which they went to work, the disinterestedness displayed, the painstaking efforts to omit no single item that might find practical application in Mexico in due time, convinced the present writer that Carl ranza's genius for discounting the future embraced much more than mere military accomplishment. Today the work of these teachers in search of American ideas is bearing fruit in various ways. There is no better evidence that the Constitutionalist government means, to foster friendly relations with the big brother this side the Rio Grande than making the American School system the model after which to pattern Mexican popu- lar education. In many private schools throughout the United States young Mexicans of both sexes are now being educated in a manner to make more permanent the relationship between the two nations. , Luis Cabrera, who was a schoolmaster in Tlaxcala in 1895 in a speech delivered in the chamber of deputies in Mexico City; 9 Pecember 3, 1912, told how when he arrived at a certain “hacienda” he was instructed by the manager of the estate to teach only reading, writing and the Catholic catechism. He was absolutely forbidden to teach “arithmetic, and that use- less thing called civics,” as the manager expressed himself. And Robert Bruce Brinsmade, the well-known mining engineer who fived for many years in Mexico, has written in explanation of this incident in the career of Mr. Cabrera that “perhaps it was the fear lest some knowledge of the real principles of government might spread throughout the country which moved the future reactionary autocrat to exile in 1878, Gabino Barreda, Director of the National Preparatory School of Mexico City, and one of the most notable educators in the Republic. Free preaching and reading was forbidden completely; all newspapers and books, even scientific works of foreign democratic reformers, including Henry George, could not be sold in Mexico. A complete Machiavellism was in existence and the Diaz system represented a modern edition of the criminal tyranny of Caesar Borgia.” - How completely the present military leaders in the Consti- tutionalist ranks are imbued with the civic-economic idea is shown in a typical manner by what Governor Alvarado is do- ing toward bringing into fruition his educational land plan campaign. It was at the closing session of the second pedagogic congress, held at Merida, Yucatan, that the governor made an address which established beyond contravention how much superior General Alvarado held the pen to be in comparison with the sword. The gathering was notable principally because it brought the question of co-education squarely before the nation as at no previous time in its history. Let us hear what Govern- or Alvarado has to say on this subject. º “Allow me to say a few words,” the Governor remarked, “with reference to the three themes discussed at the congress. The first one is co-education. . . . Since this system was implanted last year, I have endeavored to make frequent visits to the schools, and I have asked the teachers the opinions they had formed in reference to the change. I asked, because I wanted to learn even the minutest details. I do not know whether directors and teachers, believing that I was a partisan to the system, wanted to deceive me by stating that all was well. But practically all of them told me that the system was working in perfect order. ‘Instead of finding any danger in co-education we have found that it makes children more studious and respect- ful. We have observed nothing to justify the fears of the parents, who are attached to old prejudices and who say, ‘no’ to any innovation. Therefore I can only state what has been told me. I cannot as yet express my Own Opinion.” - Regarding the frequently criticised attitude of the revolution- aries toward the clergy of the country, Governor Alvarado at the same pedagogic congress furnished an explanation in part :as follows: “It is my duty to explain to you, who are the edu- 10 cators of the men of to-morrow, who will finish the task of reconstructing the nation which the Revolutionary Party has scarcely begun, it is my duty to convince you of the absolute justice and necessity of attacking the clergy of our country. You may re-echo my words or not. That does not matter; it does not affect me. But what I want you to bear in mind is that you should judge, from what I am going to tell you, whether or not we have the right on our side to proceed in the manner we are proceeding, because acts which are supported by force only and not by justice and reason are not perdurable, and bring upon themselves curses of all; they last for a certain. period, but in the end, protest raises itself and overthrows them.” - - - Governor Alvarado then went on to analyze the relationship of the church to the school, the home and the political elements of Mexico. He spoke of Hidalgo, the priest who led his patriotic countrymen to victory against Oppression; about More- los, another priest who forsook the cloth in order to become a militant in an hour of great need. A panorama was unrolled before that gathering of teachers of the young which painted in strong colors the vicissitudes of the republic during periods when educational progress was at a very low level. It was . no pleasant aspect that Governor Alvarado presented before his listeners, but he was in deadly earnest, and stated his opinion without fear of what others might think on the subject. That the women of Mexico are capable of raising the standard of living and education to a plane as high as that obtaining in coun- tries less torn with internal strife than has been the case in the neighboring republic, has been demonstrated on various oc- casions during the past few years. Mr. Rolland has stated the case succinctly as follows: “The response of the women to the new conditions has been a wonderful thing. Under the old regime, the woman was a serf or worse, if there is anything worse. Now she is an active, helpful member of the community, fully alive to the things that are essential to the future of her children. The women of Yucatan have had already their first feminist congress, with an attendance of 3,000 delegates, and the list of the things they considered reads very much like the program of any meeting of public-spirited level-headed women in the United States.” Employment and rules for the proper safeguarding of workers are phases of everyday existence so closely connected with the home life of the individual and the family that it will aid in clarifying the still clouded Mexican horizon to examine what the progressive element in that country has been doing in the direc- tion of such welfare work. Briefly put, after the enactment of the land laws, labor legislation was framed on the best models obtainable in New Zealand, and other parts of the world, and modified to fit the conditions of Yucatan where, naturally, economic experiments could be made to the greater advantage. The new legislation has minimum wage provisions and an 11 eight-hour law, compensation for injuries of workmen and pro- visions for their old age. Children under thirteen years cannot be employed in factories or any other establishment. Boys under fifteen and girls under eighteen cannot work nights. All places of employment must be sanitary and protected against fire risks and all machinery must be protected. Compulsory arbitration of labor disputes is provided by law before workers can strike or employers lock them out. - How many people in the United States are aware that there is in operation a pact, signed by Mexican and American labor representatives in Washington, not many months since, where- by the labor leaders of the two republics are kept in constant ...touch on matters vitally affecting labor interests throughout America? The Mexican appeal for such co-operation was issued from Merida, Yucatan, May 29, of this year, and met a quick re- sponse at the hands of the American Federation of Labor. Here is an extract from the Mexican appeal that carries conviction to the effect that the masses in that republic harbor no ill-will toward their fellow workers north of the Rio Grande. “We want to say very frankly to the American toilers” it reads, “that, the Mexican people do not hate the real American people, the people who still bear in their hearts the principles of Washington and Franklin; we do not have any hostile senti- ment of any kind against you, American laborers. In the United States we hate only the monopolists, the great oil and railroad kings, all those who have utilized the riches of our land for their personal benefit; impudently stealing from us the fruits of our labor; the same as they do with you in your country; those very same compatriots of yours, whose only interests are their bank accounts, and who have no love of country, honor or high ideals of life. “Be on your guard, workers of the United States. The Colum- bus raid, all the anti-Mexican agitation, all the meetings, lectures and publications of our foes in the great American cities, are only for the purpose of drowning in blood the desires of a brother people who have had the courage and the strength to rebel against their oppressors, of giving the workers of the world an example of the only Social Revolution that honestly deserves such a name.” On the part of the American Federation of Labor there has come through President Samuel Gompers the most gracious acknowledgment that nothing would suit the American workers better than a most complete understanding relative to both political and industrial issues alike important to both peoples. The following clause contained in the pact speaks for itself: “We appeal to the workers and all of the people of the United States and Mexico to do everything within their power to pro- mote correct understanding of purposes and actions, to prevent friction, to encourage good will, and to promote an intelligent national opinion that ultimately shall direct relations between 12 our countries and shall be a potent nº rce in pro- moting world progress.” & agº. The American-Mexican commission, which subsequently met on the border, was a direct outcome of the pact between labor organizations in the two countries. There are on record numer- ous instances to prove that the cordial relations that exist gen- erally between the troops of either country patroling the border along New Mexico and Arizona have been fostered through the participation of the labor bodies in the movement for a better understanding between the governments. Perhaps General Carranza was not far from speaking a great truth when he said in a speech at San Luis Potosi : “Up to this date, strife has succeeded strife throughout the world, without anyone being able to comprehend why nations should tear each other to pieces upon any pretext; it is the big material interests which push nations into war, and so long as those interests are in existence, wars will continue to be a menace to humanity. , For this reason I affirm that laws should be universal and that what we establish here by conquest as a truth, should betoken welfare through the law of all mankind, be it in Mexico or in Africa. The eternal struggle of mankind has been for the ini- provement, for the welfare, for the developments of peoples, and those gigantic upheavals have had no other object than the welfare of separate units; humankind has mangled itself for these principles and in order that war may cease, it is imperative that the reign of justice extend over all the earth.” FOR UNITED STATES-MEXICO CO-OPERATION The re-election of President Wilson affirms the desires of the American people to remain at peace with all the world. Unques- tionably, during the next four years Mexican-American rela- tions will be afforded an opportunity to become strenghtened through a better understanding of the intrinsic merits of the nations concerned. But in Order to make firm whatever founda- tion has been laid more recently it becomes essential to con- stantly reaffirm the principles without which no solid ground- work can be expected. Toward this end a number of agencies have been at work disseminating such information as will tend to correct wrong impressions, however obtained, assist in furnishing knowledge regarding the economic and political evolution in Mexico, and to remove whatever apprehension may exist touching the ability of Mexicans to govern themselves in the newfound conditions ushered in with the revolution. - NO less a person than President Wilson has set an auspicious example in guaging Mexico at its true estimate. Whatever critics may adduce to the contrary, the policy of the administra- tion throws into strong relief that new Mexico when the edu- cation of the masses will make up for many mistakes made when lack of full enlightenment was the responsible factor for such mistakes. Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane is 13 ~s A. . vºs } * - 2 . . . . authority 46 the statement that President Wilson has clearly seen the end to be desired from the first and that “he has worked toward it against an opposition that was cunning and intensive, persistent and powerful. If he succeeds in giving a new birth of freedom to Mexico, he most surely will receive the verdict of mankind.” - The sea of internationalism is seldom entirely calm, and the ships of state require helmsmen with an eye single to the call of public opinion. It is fortunate, indeed, for the future rela- tionship of the United States and Mexico that the occupant of the White House during the next few years has a vision so clear that it will enable him to carry to a successful issue whatever plans he may have conceived so far toward the ultimate solu- tion of the Mexican problem from the American point of view. That it is President Wilson’s desire to see Mexico work out her own salvation along lines best suited to her present and future need, there has been ample evidence. This does not mean, however, that the Chief Executive will not primarily conserve the honor and prestige of the United States. * -. - A vindication of President Wilson's Mexican policies include the admission that the educational institutions of this country very generally favor a pacific attitude in so far as it will comport with the honor of the nation. The presence in many of these institutions of young men from the Latin American republics has done much toward inculcating in the administrative circles' of colleges and universities a spirit of compassion for the Sister nations to the south. Mexico has been foremost in sending her young people to the United States for purposes of educa- tion. In fact, if it had not been for what many of the revolu- tionary chiefs had learned about freedom in thought and action here, very likely the liberating efforts would have been con- ~, siderably retarded. It is because some of the leading educators of this country have joined with the Mexican-American League, founded dur- ing the past summer, that the success of this additional force for co-operative work may be considered assured in advance of what the organization hopes to see accomplished. Taking a sane and sensible view of the Mexican problems without bias for preconceived notions one way or another, the committee has set to work with a will. Already there has come a most ready response from many sections of the United States from those anxious to join this movement which holds out such promise. With headquarters at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City, the Mexican-American League is evidently destined to play a con- spicious role in the work of upbuilding the relations between the two nations. When the National Educational Association met in New York during July of the present year, Dr. David Starr Jordan, Chan- cellor of Leland Stanford University, and a member of the Mexi- can-American League committee, delivered a notable address. on the Mexican situation in which he touched on the effect of 14 the revolution on the wealthier classes. This is a subject that has found much wrongful interpretation. Dr. Jordan, however, explains the reason for the banishment of many of these peo- ple as follows: “Their supporters denounce it as unjust that a million intelligent, cultivated and wealthy people should be dominated by fifteen millions of ignorant peasants. The plea is old in human history. Men of culture cannot rule as a separate caste. They must get down and help lift up the mass. Because they have never done their part toward the training of the peon he has become a terrible menace. Caste divisions are themselves a menace to human welfare and the ultimate future of every nation is bound up with democracy.” The existence of such an organization as the Mexican-Ameri- can League has been caused by virtue of the fact that many of the wealthy exiles from, Mexico are carrying on a reactionary propoganda in this country. That such is the case has been established beyond peradventure. Arraying themselves in false – robes of patriotism as regard their love of country these Mexi- can reactionaries have been a danger point with which the constructive forces have had to reckon. So long as this nefarious element is permitted to concoct its scheme for the restoration in Mexico of the old order of things, so long there will be handi- caps in the way for gaining that stage of adjustment where permanent peace can prevail in the southern republic. Fortun- ately, the Washington administration for some time has been taking cognizance of this state of affairs, and there is a pos- sibility that measures will be adopted to stop the reactionary propaganda in this country. The work of the exile group has been a factor in the withholding of credit on any extensive scale touching loans to Mexico. Representing the moneyed interests that surrounded the Diaz administration, such Mexicans as are now working to upset the Carranza government and defeat its economic plans most naturally cannot expect too charitable a treatment at the hands of the Constitutionalists. Mexico needs money. There is no doubt of this. And if money is to be obtained, where else may a government look except to the United States? In this connection it may be well to add that -next to the land question, the question of proper financing has long Occupied those who understood the real needs of Mexico. On this point, no one is better able to throw light on the subject than Luis Cabrera, the minister of finance in the Carranza government. Mr. Cabrera has care- fully avoided negotiating financial transactions that would place still heavier burdens on the country. His policy is in marked contrast to that which obtained during the Diaz regime when loans were placed which imposed serious strains on the national treasury. There has been a disposition in certain financial quarters to discourage loans to Mexico on terms that would be reasonable to both parties concerned. The result of the election has some- what changed this. With the administration favorable to a 15 peaceful adjustment of the Mexican-American issues the chances have imprêved considerably relative to the financial negotia- tions under way. It is no easy task to place a nation tried as Mexico has been Qn a sound monetary basis, but there is no reason to doubt that with the untold treasures bound up in the natural resources of the republic a solution will be found. *. The days of exploiting Mexico for selfish gain alone are over. With this national menace removed, legitimate enterprise will be allowed to assert itself. As a result the government will receive what is its proper due. Revenues from one source or another will increase proportionately as the land and the mines will be worked. This is the new era that will justify all the suffering and strife through which the nation has passed since Madero first raised the banner of protest against monopoly and autocracy. But the idealism of Francisco Madero proved but a weak foil against cunning schemers who knew how to attack the successor to Diaz where he was most vulnerable. Misplaced sympathy proved the undoing of Madero. It was because Venustiano Carranza refused to fall into a similar trap to that which caught Madero that the First Chief of the Con- stitutionlists had to meet craftiness with sternness. Carranza, perhaps, now and then makes his mistakes, but who, placed like he has been, could always have guessed what the next day might bring forth P With the cleansing of the old slate Mexico is now writing a new chapter in its eventful history. Americans ought to wish the republic well as it enters the family of nations purified and strengthened. Let be that Mexico reborn is but as yet a term requiring much solicitude and watching before its appli- cation can be fully justified to the nation across the Rio Grande. But the United States, unquestionably, will not omit to extend that hand of co-operation that is sure to be grasped cordially by Mexico herself. The manifest destiny of the country of Juarez is written in bold letters across the sky of America. The in- terests of the twenty-one republics of the western hemisphere are closely knit in a fabric whose strands are as variegated in texture and color as the characteristics of the countries differ. due to racial idiosyncracies and customs. But in the main, the spirit of America is singularly a matter of common property to all America. It is genius that makes democracy the victor. |President Wiſson and the United States are playing no small parts in the processes making for the regeneration of Mexico. 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