Evening star., 1923-04-17
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
PRESIDENT. eBREdON--A WORLD
REFORMEH. j. D. Dillon. Small,

A Large order, this, that Or. Dillon
undertakes to fiji. However. he ap.
pears to have done 1t. That is TO say
he has satisfied himself to the exten,
indicated by the title of his book and
by the further sefibus declaration
that, Mexico IL leading the way" II
Is clear that from the study itself the
author hopes to have readers Aecep,
both Mexico and its president as the
van of a world movement toward q
new civilization of peace and general
ideaIism. Reading here, one rubs his
eyes, thinking he may have fallen In.
to dream over his boek-but he IL
wide awake and here 1t is, plain as
print can make 1t. Mexico is leading
the way" and Alvaro ObfeEon is a
"reforner OF world significance.
Now the world Is the biggest thing
we know. And in 1t there have been
great men, innumerable, who have
served nobly for It's bettering In this
direction or in that. Few OF these
in fact. no more than one of them
in modern times-have reached q
world measure OF influence and power
Wherefore. the magnitude of the
order that DR.. Dillon engages to fill
here. And one turns toward the mat.
ter, curious, rather than hopeful.
4 4 + 4
The bulk OF this Obregon study
was made at first hand. DR.. Dillon
admits that, upon a first meeting. he
was inclined to pass Obregen by as
only another one Of the notorious
generals" who, leading rag-tag
armies. have, from time out of mind
infested Mexico in clamorous pre-
tence of delivering that unhappy
country from its other traitorous de-
Tenders and saviors 1t was not long,
however, before he discovered some
thing different In this man. Here
meanor, sincerity OF purpose, a rea-
sonablenesS of claim, clear insight
as to the source and spread of Mex
ico's age-old rnalady, a fair view of
its needs, and a unique selfiessness
of spirit toward the future well-being
sions grew in strength and widened
In scope through the further associa-
tion of the two. Upon Obregon's in
vitation DR.. Dillon travelled with him
through one and another Of the
states of Mexico. In this companion
ship the authors already wide knowl-
edge or the country took on depth
and conviction as to its possible high
future, provided only there could be
set those basic conditions upon which
all national development rests.
And Gen. Obregon. in the long dis
cussions of these travel hours, set
those conditions. There must be edu-
cation for all. with trade and indus
trial schools in the lead. There must
be land redistribution SO that the
least of Mexico's nationals may have
the means of support out Of the good
mother earth around him. There
must be the. popular voice in local
affairs and. finally, in the affairs OF
the state as well. In a word. there
must be. In all sincerity, those funda-
mental things which in many respects
exist now only as mere, gestures OF
speech. And. above all. Mexico must
be let alone, 50 far outsiders have
wrought only harm. And Obregon
- = ali IL wershy, 20 tates@marshfp: @ He up
pda of settina for
solution of international problems.
He decried war. He invented plans
to avoid conflict plans which would
project this ~ar-weary world into a
happy and productive future. A SIM
pie man. plain of speech, deeply
grounded in his faith. Along these
travels there were lnnumerable Incl
dents. episodes, pictures, to point the
things that the general was saying
And these were turned over into the
book pretty much as they were seized
and discussed by these two. So, in
large part the study is anecdotal, in
formal. picturesque. interesting and
impressive. Taken all in all. it serves
to- cover not only the whole life OF
Obregon himself, but it serves to in
clude. as well. every high point OF
Mexican history within the period
that is calculated to throw light upon
the present conditions of the country
and to define also what it's future
may be.
Out of this enthusiastic stud,
energies what would have been a fine
and hopeful figure in Mexican life
had not DIR. Dillon welI-nigh RUNE
his subject by an excessive aid child
ish partisanship on the one hand and
spirit of bitter venom on the other
AS it is, one believes that President
obregon will not suffer over. much
from this office of friendship How
much more dangerous friends can be
than enemies. after all. DR.. Dillon
is an artist In black and white-snow
white against crow black. The cen
trail point Of immaculate lllamInetior
here is President Obregon. Around
him. black as night, spreads the rest
Of the world. That special spot OF
complete inkinees is the United States
When it comes to plain scarrility we
mean we'll By Mexico? we do not
Have we ever meant we'll by any
other nation or country? We have
not Cuba? the Philippines? Haiti
and Santo Domingo? Proofs, all OF
them, against the sincerity of our
claims: Do we desire a world peace
Did we have a peace conference. we
do not and we did not. Just gestures,
these, made chiefly, one would sup
pose from this book. to pat something
over on Mexico. When the author
becomes most abusive. he stops to ex.
plain that he does not mean the peo.
ernment instead. Since. however, the
people are the government, since THE
is their pride and their one boast,
the explanation fails to stand up fof
a minute.
And our President-weli, he Is q
''Yankee politician a term that
away in the back OF the story. Is ex.
banded TO show that this particular
species of politician is a human
termita, a practical hustler, who livet
and works in mechanical, wealth.
creating, realm expanding s4rfound.
ings, and his nature is subdeed to
what 1T works in. Unhappiig, his oe.
cupatien offers little scope fof spir.
itual aspirations. in which he is otter
deficient" Moreover, the President IL
"a fervent Christian. Religious infiu.
ences dominate his. sense Of duty and
shape his Ideals OF social order and
on. Obregon. either by fmplicatiof
or direct statement, is shown to pos.
sess none of these baneful auAlitIes