The Washington times., 1920-06-07


finally land.
1 admire Wilson's wartime attitude
toward European Affairs. But. with
his bitterest enemies. l recognize that
I'm matters relating to Mexico his pro-
cedure has been incoherent
He was with Huerta and against
Huerta.' with Carranza and against
Carranza. And one time he was even
with villa. the bandit. remember
that years ago l saw an important
American newspaper which carried
a picture OF villa and an article en-
titled THE Mexican Napoleon"
Credits Wilson With sincesity.
/ also recognize that all that Will
son did he did in the best of faith and
with the object of arriving at the
best possible solution. There were
moments. besides. when the Mexican
mess was involved enough to turn the
steadiest man in the world crazy.
But Wilson's indecisive and vari-
able conduct was fatal. Any policy at
all. had it been consistent and con-
tinuous. would have been preferable.
That. however. Is beside the point.
Many writers have dealt with Wilson
and the Mexican question. / need not
say over again what others have al
ready proved so clearly.
As contrasted with Wilson, and
once he was firmly seated in power,
Carranza pursued a policy that was
coherent. invariable, and continuous.
Thanks to Don Nenustiano. a new
means of governing became familiar
in Mexico. Very efficient recipes for
cotrolling individuals and groups had
been inherited from earlier regimes
The prison and the firing squad nav"
always been considered persuasive in
strumcnts for bringing ones enemies
to reason. But it sometimes happens
that large portions of the population
have to be intimidated. A general
execution being impossible. some
other device must be resorted to. Car
ranza hit upon the threat of Ameri-
can intervention" Yankee treach
cry" THE American Menace the
peril from the North.
During the last days of my stay IN
Mexico. ! could see that things were
going badly The newspapers, which
always took their cue from BarraRan,
! who took his. in turn. from Don Yer
ustiano, began to speak OF the
! Yankee peril and United states in
| tervention" as an imminent possibil-
lty. oDrtSOn W
| the editorials, was planned to furnish
| a pretext for an American invasion
of the country. and Uncle sam was
waiting the word across the frontier,
much as an actor stands behind h
piece Of scenery on the stage. ready
! to come on at the dramatic moment.
Such reports aimed to prevent sym
| pathizers with the insurrection from
| joining In.
Terrible Prophecies.
Some of the dailies sent shivers up
and down their readers backs with
the most terrible prophecies.
IF another revolution succeeds in
Mexico" they said. 'if the order es-
| tsblished by the benefcent govern
ment of CarranZa is evorthrown, tht
Americans will invade our territories,
the iron heel will be pressed upon our
necks; we shall fall so low In tn.
scale of nations, our lot will be 80 sad
and so disgraceful that we will be
virtually slaves. comparable only
with Cuba
was so much surprised at this
comparison as had been over Min
ister Cabreras observations on Ar
gcntina and Chile. The hardest man
to convince is the man who insists on
being wrong.
NV dear sir said to the editor
some days later. go all over cuba.
| IL YOU wish and | am sure you will
| fail to find that iron heel The only
! American footwear you VIII discover
! IN that island, will be the sigzag
eing boots Of some New Yorker who
| you will find has fled to Havana to
ESCAPE prohibition. Cuban real estate
has quadrupled in value in recent
| years People there are too rich, II
ANYTHING; they are wsllowing in
| money Revolutions have gone out
! Of style in Cuba. When anybody tries
| 20 start one. they just send him up
| TO New York for a good time on
| Broadway"
The Journalist looked at me half in
! surprise. half incredulously. The wife
| of a general, one OF the newer hatch
gave me that same look when laugh
ed at her on one occasion. The lazy
told me she was anxious to spend a
few weeks in Havana. hut did not
dare to go because she had never
learned English.
.Amcrican Danger"
The american danger" is, Ms | was
saving, one Of the secrets Of success
fui government in Mexico. The gen
erals arc always using that argu'
mnnt Otherwise the people might b.
inclined toward a civilian rule. Since
the danger OF Intervention exists, 1t
il quite logical to leave military men
in power: although these generals,
quite aside from their personal cour-
age, know Just about as much mill
tary science as ] do.
Carranza. for his part. was never
in such good hupor, never so seif-
assured, never so convinced OF his
mission on earth, as when he was
arguing a diplomatic question with
the United states. Several OF the
diplomats I met In Washington were
following the Mexican negotiations
with this country as matter OF pro-
fessional interest; and one or them,
n man of letters, found n phrase that
summed up the situation exactly:
"Csrranza Is doing his best to culti-
vnte the incident"
The "cultivatiot OF incidents, as
well as tne delight, was also the SUI
prcme talent OF don Nenustinno.
When he received some demand from
tho United states he must have smiled
ss boxing master smiles when he