The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1914-07-05

never John with HuArtA IN guCH IN t
enterprise. He expressed his fuIl he
lief in the statements OF the admins
istration that the United States had
no intention of Selling territory in
Mexico or interfering with the soy-
ereignty of the country, but on the
contrary was anxious only that the
sovereignty of Mexico be exercised
Through constitutional regime. Tile
break was mended and Carranza is
sued another note In which he ex-
PRESSED fun confidence in this coun-
try, and pointed to Huerta as the
common enemy.
Then Came Mediation.
Then IL is supposed the interested
outsiders played their second card,
which was mediation. The question
arises whether this plan originated
with the United States. or with the
mediators. 1t was at first supposed
that Secretary Bryan was responsible
for 1t, but reliance may be placed
upon the statement that the mediators
brought the idea to Bryan. who, after 4
carefully guarding the position OF the
| United States. accepted 1t. President
Wilson consenting.
Did the mediators originate the
plan or did they get 1t from the CAPT.
tai invested In Mexico? They may
have thought Of it themselves. II
was entirely creditahIe to them If they
did They may have gotten a hint
from elsewhere. and II Is not to their
discredit If they accepted the pro-
posa1 in the interest of peace. Tho
whole question Is whether they wero
Influenced afterwards. This question
turns upon whether they have un-
/ duly insisted upon two points-first
the declaration of an arrnistice by
Carranza, and. second, the appoint
rnent of a neutral as provisional presi-
dent
The Armistice Point.
On the first point they appear 20
have been insistent. Nothing In I'M
ternational law requires an armfstfce
under such circumstances. The reason
lis obvious. The beaten party might
use an armistlcA as a breathing spell.
It might throw mediation overheard
as soon as 1t had resulted In an adj
vantage The whole thing was dis
cussed in Tho Hague convention OF
1899, and specifically rejected as a
condition Of mediation In this case
II is quite plain what the result would
have been Huerta would have reaped
every advantage The constitutions
alist army would have melted away
/ or revolted. Its leaders would have
been robbed 0f the fruits OF their
struggle Huerta would have been
AZ strong as ever after the mediation
had failed while Carranza would have
been nowhere.
Conditions Are Compared.
The medsators are believed by many
to have laid unreasonable stress on
the fact that Carranza declined to fol-
low Huerta into an armistice. The
conditions we're different. The alb
sence Of an arnniStice It ia claimed.
did not initiate against their deliher-
atoms. AZ Justice lamar pointed
cat, theIr nope OF f7ndIng a n@utTu
provisional president was illusory.
VI hon q country is at war there are
ma neutrals. or IL theye are they are
/ the poorest class Of citizens it has.
/ The United States simply took the
ground that as the ccnstttutionalists
i represented the most of Mexico. they
should have the provisional presi-
dent ana majority of the election
board. f1atte obviously. without this
concession tha constitutionaiists would
carry on their campaign ard the set
] tlelnent wonld be inclusive Of all
Mexico except the only part capable
/ Of making a real resistance.
| Question of Concessions.
II Is OF exceptional interest that In
isistence upon a neutral came from
+ firm Of New York attorneys. who WIS.,
tied Washington and gave oat inter-
views TINT they had been retained BY
Huerta for that purpose. Huerta later
#repudiated the employment In any
WAY but the activity went ON never
ithetess. ma IRE fair assumption IN that
oven II Huerta were willing 10 give In
on this point. there are some legal
phases of his regime that must be
protected.
In a word, the oil and timber CONFESS
s.ons which would be unquestloned
under Huert1, would be repudiated by
Carranza. They would he iii danger
: urtier provisional president rsnet
70, T. Il - -.
danger under a provisional president
named as neutral and they would
have good color cf title before an
international court, II the new presi-
dent held in direct succession TO
Huerta.
People Must Be Gamers
I Whether the mediators have leaned
too far in their good offices toward a
neutral. not knowing the consequences
to Mexico, or whether they believe
that the peace Of the country de-
mands that these international obii-
cations should show in the settlement,
is not known II is possible that DIR.
Naon when he came TO Washington
on Friday heard from the president
some things along these lines that he
did not know before. The fact that
he came TO Washington Is significant
OF a desire on the part of the media
tors 10 learn the exact position of the
administration. lie learned that the
president stands exactly and uncnTa-
fnromisingly on the Lamar statement,
and that the United States sees no
peace in Mexico with the constitu-
ti0nalists left ont of the settlement.
/ He may have learned also that the
United States knows more about tho
! internal affairs of Mexico than it did
formerly and that IL now has a good
line ON what is necessary TO final set
. Element.
In short. the United States clings 70
the position that there lis nothing m
the trading Of one Huerta for another
There must he change Of system.
las we'll as a change of rulers. before
/ Mexico can have internal peace. IL
some American corporations are tho
losers by this the administration will
not grieve. provided the people OF
| Mexico are the gamers.
Notwithstanding the fact tina. Chile
| has extensive forests. there are im-
ported 1900. 600 to S0,000.o00 feet
/ Of lumber annually, the greater por-
ton coming from the United States.