The Washington times., 1914-05-15
OUR DUTY IN MEXICO.

! That the Mexican question, funda
mentally, is land question is appar-
ent, and it is just as apparent that
Mexico will not be tranquillized until
that issue is settled in some sort of
accord with the principles of right.
Whether the settling is to be accom-
plished by our intervention, a Pan
American commission, a rcJuVerated
Huerta, if that be conceivable, or by
the constitutionalist does not affect
the central fact.
In Mexico nine -tenths of the land
is owned by a fraction of per cent
of the people. The condition of the
Mexican peon is rather worse than
that of the negro slave of sixty years
ago. For centuries he has been the
pawn of the ruling classes. attached
10 the soil and disposed of with it, as
best suited the interest or the whim
of his masters. He was always with
out hope of reward, and. as oppres-
sion sank deeper and his misery be-
came more Sullen as well as more
poignant, he has lost the fear of
punishment.
On the one hand, enormous wealth
ard feudaf power; on the other. un-
relieved poverty, ignorance, and suf-
fering; that is Mexico. Given these
conditions and leaders sufficiently
patriotic or desperate and revolt is
as inevitable as death.
If these conditions are to continue,
it would make no difference who di-
rected the government. The peon
and his leaders can be kept in check
presumably, but only by the use of
overwhelming force. For Diaz, who
certainly was no weakling, the task
proved impossible. Madcro, we'll
meaning visionary, found himself
caught between the upper and the
neither milestone. Huerta had not
waded through blood to power be-
fore insUrrection reared it's head in
every part of the troubled land.
This is the problem that the
United States faces. 1t is a difficult
problem. not to be met and con-
quered by any rule of thumb, like
the promise TO the poems of "forty
acres and mule" although this
represents, perhaps, the substance Of
the constitutionalist's dream. To
him reparation for centuries of op-
preston and injustice is simple
matter of confiscation and division.
That solution is not likely to ap-
peal to the United States, whose
nationals, according to a recent
consular report, have $1,057, 10000
invested in Mexico, contrasted with
a purely Mexican investment of
$193 1877 PAP. The English invest-
ments total 1921 10000, the French
$i43,446,00O and all others $685.
600. In other words, the United
States alone owns 40 per cent of
Mexico and all foreigners combined
over two-thirds.
1t is curious thing how persist
emily every interest now concen-
trated on the settlement Of the Mexi-
can problem ignores its basic diff
Guilty. Our own State Department,
the A. B. c. Intermediates, Huerta's
foreign Office, and the spokesmen of
the constitutionalists all talk as
though the adjustment we're a pure
matter of arms or politics, without
apparent consideration OF the ncces-
sity of complete reorganization of
the country's land policy and owner
ship.
Without such reorganization there
never will be peace in Mexico and
without the constructive aid of the
United States Or Pan America re-
organization based on justice and
tight is only lair dream of an in
definite future. Nothing is gained,
indeed much is lost, by ignoring
these facts aud following the
ostrich policy of sticking our head
in the sand.