Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-07-07
MEX INTERVENTION
IS A POSSIBILITY
BY HERBERT COREY


ington government to intervene. II
is realized here that intervention is
a dark alley. 1t is easier to know
where to go in than how to get out
But, for all that, intervention is 8
decided possibility of the future.
The reason why is that the Har-
ding administration means business
There is a singularly earnest set of
men at the head of the government
They do not propose to tread upon
the rights of any neighbor, but nei-
Their do they propose to have that
neighbor trample on American toes
When General Obregon replied to the
state department that he could not
give the guarantees demanded as a
preliminary to recognition
Secretary hughes Note
1--WE only ask that Mexico agree
to discharge the most elementary in
ternational obligations" is a free
rendering of Secretary Hughes
He tipped the pot until the beans
are trembling on the edge of spill,
If Mexico continues to ferment as
she has during the past ten years;
if she refuses to, pay debts. protect
life, sneers at the suggestion that
she shall pay for American blood and
property wasted there, then any one
who desires may find a heavy line in
the palm of the future.
have said that intervention is
eral Scott's day. That is literally
true. 1t may be said in reply that
General Pershing and his merry men
did a country dance along the border.
Good Black Jack conducted punitive
expeditions and this little thing and
hi Ac m
of fact, he did nothing of the sort:
He was yanked to and fro at the end
of the Washington wire. Those who
were members of that expedition
speak feeliDgly of General PerShing' $
eloquence. 1t was the true cause of
that, heat-haze that shimmered over
the Sonora sandhills that hot sum
mer, they say. There were Vera Cruz
expeditions, also. But none of them
amounted to anything becs use Wash
ington would not take hold Of the Sit
sargainsd with Leaders
washington endeaVored to deal
with Mexico by series of bargains
with Mexican leaders" certainly nigh
ly placed men now in Washington
say. =,
Villa, and Felipe Angels, and Obre-
gon, and even the unspeakable Ia
pata, who liked to mai, prisoners to
the top of a stump, @nd then bulld
fires under them until they pulled
themselves loose. Inc MsSlcan IAN 5
the normal procedure at Washington.
They did not realize that in other
times there are other manners, and
that in the midst of world war a
troublesome neighbor could get away
repressiVe activities in times OF
peace. They forgot to reckon, TOO,
with the fact that very peaceful
Uncle Sam has grown somewhat
used to armies and fights, and that
a continuance of provocat ton has IL
nally set up a dangerous irritation
here.
The Mexican constitution Is > retro IT r o.
what Obregon has admitted in his
reply to Secretary Hughes. but l
cannot agree in writing not to apply
1t retroactively because / am in a
delicate state politically. The only
thing can do is to stall. If 1 agree
to anything 1 am in Dutch"
what obregon's Reasons Are
My apologies for this free transla-
ton of a diplomatic paper, of course.
But there it is. Obregon can not
agree to the demands of the United
States-which are only that Mexico
shall follow the same course of con-
duct common to all civilized nations
because, in the final analysis. Obre-
eon is not a big enough man. For
some time past the conviction mas
been gaining ground here that the
one-armed hero is better bush-hght-
er than president. Not even his most
bitter Mexican enemies suggest that
he lacks personal courage, but one OF
them brought an illustrative yarn 10
town not long agi.
tnHrn0n7
the government now" he said. GALES
and De La Huerta have persuaded
him that he is too direct and clumsy
for the delicate operations of admin
istration. They have nudged him out
Of power"
"Then what does he do?"
He is teaching himself to play
billiards with his one arm.
Might Crush Opposition
II he were stronger man, ne
would force Gales and De La Huerta
into open opposition. He might be
able to crush them in the field or ne
might not. If he forced them into
fighting by his insistence that the
common decencies of civilized govern
ment shall be preserved by Mexico
Ii is0a good guess that he would be
given the active support OF the
United States government II he need
ed it. Gales and De La Huerta are
Nowadays one calls their sort Of men
Bolshevists for lack of a better name
No one even bothers to deny this
charge against them. At least no
one bothers who is not an employe
of the Mexican government. or who
Is not animated by lively anticipa-
ton of favorS to come.
But the fact that Obregon has not
dared take a stand against Gales
and De la Huerta has exploded the
Obregon myth here. He is an hon
est man, well-meaning, not anti
American any more than any other
Mexilan is, a good soldier, a hard
handed manager of mobs, and he as
suredly does not want trouble with
the United States, which might lead
to. intervention. But he seems not
strong enough to take stanc
against his trouble-makers in the
cabinet. The fact that Secretary
Hughes has placed stress upon the
fact that his note was addressed to
the Mexican people rather than to
any individual is taken here as ar
advance warning that something
more than note writing may happen.
Plans for Occupying Mexico
Fifty thousand men could take
the City of Mexico" said an officer OF
the army.
Plans for the taking have beer
made. Maps are ready for the en-
tire route. An expedition designed
to capture the capital would be han
died in a different manner from the
Pershing so-called punitive" which
was danced back and forth on the
border at the cost of so great
strain upon Black Jacks vocables
The seaports could be seized by
pair of destroyers each.
When that has been done, however
the question of administration ap
pears. 1t would be mere idleness, Il
is felt here. to march an army in
force a compliance to certain treaty
demands, and then march an arm!
out again. That would be apple pie
and cream for the Mexicans. w
would buy alligator pears and bottle
glass opals at price that woult
stagger humanity. and do no partic
ular harm. In the end we would tir'