Ashland tidings. [volume] (Ashland, Or.) 1876-1919, 1913-09-08
History in the Making
Mexicans. AmenabIe to Reason.

I
rizing on the best means of averting
/ war the United States and Mexico
have been accomplishing practical
work in that direction. 1t has been
a week of triumph for both sides, and
yet we are nearer than ever to the
friendliest relations. Though at first
suspected by Mexico as having ul-
terror motives, the United States has
demonstrated that, whatever the i'm
pulse of some few interested citizens,
the vast majority of our people must
be credited with no other desire than
of restoring order in the sister ve-
public. President Wilson may have
carried suggestion to the point of
! seeming like intimidation, but, on the
| failure of these overtures, his declar-
alton that we can succeed sooner as
| the friends than as the enemies of
! Mexico was a master stroke and one
that is doubtless largely responsible
for the Huerta offer to renew nego-
| tiations. Those were the two victor
les scored by the United States; the
two secured by Mexico were the re-
fusal of outside mediation on a con-
stitutional issue at the suggestion of
a foreign nation, and the ultimate
recognition of the fact that no other
people should be half so anxious for
peace as the Mexicans themselves. 1t
is reported officially that American
investments in Mexico aggregate ST.
057, 100000; English interests
amount to $321,2OS,SO0 French,
5000, and other foreign
countries $11S,535, $50. Great as are
these sums, they are but a bagatelle
compared with the interests of Mexi-
cans in the preservation of order,
and in the renewal of negotiations
the leaders of that country display
the utmost wisdom.
England's Problem in Persia.
1t is interesting to note that while
Great Britain and other foreign ma
tions have been urging this country
to intervene in Mexico, several of
those nations are in an almost identi-
cal position, without having the
courage to take the course they
urged upon the United States. Eng
land, for instance, has just such an
other problem in Persia. Owing
largely to outside interference, or
ganized government has broken down
in the land of the Shah, particularly
in the south, where British influ-
ence is paramount and where bri-
gandage and disorder are rife. Be-
cause of her Indian empire and her
claims in the Persian gulf, England
feels responsible for conditions in
that country, but she is wholly at a
loss to determine what course is best.
A large and difficult area infested
with banditti, Persia could not be
invaded without an expenditure of
money and a loss of men almost
equal to that consumed in the South
African campaign. 1t is generally
conceded that England is sincere in
the desire to prevent the partition
of Persia, even as we are to termin-
ate the disruption in Mexico, but
that is just the point which the Per-
slams fail to appreciate.
Effects of War on Turkey.
That war has often the most curl
Gus and unlocked for results is seen
in the Balkans and in Turkey, where,
strangely enough, very few of the in
dustries have been seriously dis
turbed by hostilities. Some of the
Balkan fruit crops have been larger
than ever, and, excepting tobacco
most of the Turkish products run to
figures far above those of average
years. The date crop has been abun-
dant, the altar of rose industry is
| flourishing, and licorice root, de-
spised by the Turks, but highly
priced by the American tobacco
trade, promises an exceptional yield
This last named business is con-
trolled by Americans, who, in 1912,
imported root to the value of ST.
25S,299. In other directions the re-
suits have been equally strange.
During the war the Bulgarians took
Turkish village, demolished the
minaret on the mosque and turned
the mosque itself into a church, with
huge timber cross. They then pro-
ceeded to baptize all the inhabitants
by force. When the Greeks arrived
last month they did not like to tear
down the cross, and the priests were
disinclined to minister to so many
Turks made Christians at the point
of the bayonet. A compromise was
effected by declaring the baptisms
void and allowing the Turkish priests
to rename the flock, turning many a
George Ferdinand back into Ali Has
san and the like.
Franchise Dilemma in Belgium.