Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-04-21

country and among people where the
strong hand counts for so much But
no disinterested outsider who knew him
then and breathed the Mexican air of
those exciting days need be told that
there was something in it then which
hadn't been there before, at least in our
time; or that underneath the vagueness
and uncertainty of the Madero revolu-
ton there was something strong and
fine-the genuine attempt to bring his
more or less medieval land somehow or
other more into the current of the mod
ern world.
Morrow Helps Good VIII.
Since then a lot of wetsP has gone
over the wheel. Recognitions and the
refusal of recognition; embargoeS on
arms and the lifting of embargoes: in
vasions and rapprochemerts; the dead
lock and i'll will of few years ago and
the better feeling that followed the
coming of Ambassador Morrow. The
revolt against the grotesquely lop-sided
distribution of the land has gone the
length not only of breaking up the
vaster estates, but of Selling for ejidos
strips and parcels of moderate sized
farms which are unable to operate sue
cessfully without them. The revolt
against the church, has gone the length
of persecution and execution, and
brought about the closing OF church
buildings and the practical doing away
Of public worship.
Hot Language Spills.
On all these subjects and many others.
more or less allied, much ink and hot
language have been spilled. Fortunes
have been destroyed tens of thousands
of people slaughtered on one side or
another. and here and there men have
marched to their death with the proud
smile and plying eye Of Christian
martyrs. When all's said and done.
however-and plainly almost anything
can be said. depending on what corner
of the complex tragedy you choose to
concentrate and from what point Of
view-the fact remains that the whole
period, from the appearance OF Fran
cisco l. Madero down to the present
represents a profound and more or less
continuous effort to develop national
consciousness and to raise the level OF
the Mexican mass.
The big estates have been divided
with what injustice to individual own
ers and what loss to production, If any,
in the aggregate, is not here the ques-
tom and a widespread and determined
effort made, with the help of agricul-
tural banks and farm schools. to build
I'D class of small farmers 10 fill the
social and economic chasm between the
hacendados and the serf-like poems.
Laborers Organized.
Laborers have bsen organized into
unions and labor code adopted, which,
however unreasonable many of its ex-
actions may seem. represents at least an
, understandable attempt to give the
Mexican workman the self-respecting
status and the power of collective bar
gaining taken more or less for granted
in more industrially developed parts of
the world. 1t may seem absurd for
French theatrical company. for exam
, pie, to be compelled to pay the wages
, of a Mexican promoter who doesn't
, know a word of French. It isn't so abb
surd, on the other hand, to find that
. the shanghaied laborers-the "engan-
cl1ado5," or hooked" as they are called
; who in Diaz's time used to be locked
up at night and marched out at dawn
under guard to work all day under a
tropical sun in the hot country" are
] a thing of the past, and that. some
how or other, work gets done without
: therR
= In education there has been an ex-
! ccsdingly interesting attempt to bring
S the Indian into Mexico (There are
only about 100000 whites In Mexico
/ and about II 100000 mestizos and In
! dians. of which perhaps 100000 are
, pure Indian, so that Mexico is essen
tally brown country" and any really
S Mexican" program Of education must
needs keep these facts in mind and aim
!, to utilize the brown child's natural in
E stincts and good qualities. rather than
merely try to run him mechanically into
the academic grooves common to West
E ern Europe or our part of the world.)
( The revolutionary educators-Senor
Jose Vasconcelos. for instance, and
S Senior Saenz-have encouraged rural
D schools for the children of the simplest
poems, in which Ito learn a poem, to
make garden, to do accounts and to
: feed a pig are all on the same plane Of
/ utility" They have tried. in the words
r of Senior SaenZ, ito ir1tegrate Mexico
Y and to create in our peasant classes a
rural spirti to incorporate into the
/ Mexican family the millions of Indians;
TO make them think and feel in Span
ish; to bring them into that community
Of ideas and emotions that means Mex
t ico"
5 Naturally, under the circumstances,
+ they have only scratched the surface.
Here, as in Russia lack of money, more
! or less constant political disturbance,
old habits of indifference and laziness,
have made a big gap between theory
and accomplishment. But no one who
has visited the newer schools in and
roundabout the capital. seen the work
turned out by quite unframed young
sters in the several art schools and
talked with the enthusiasts in the min
/. istry of education, could fail to catch
/. the excitement of something that NAV
) be described as q genuine cultural
|. renaissance"
Nowhere in the world" Prof. Dewey
remarked after visiting Mexico q year
or two ago, "is there an aspect Of great
E er intimacy and spiritual union between
S the scholastic activities and those Of
= the community than that which Is seen
z now in Mexico"
S All this, and much else, Is what Is
meant when one speaks of the "real''
2 Mexican revolution. And no amount OF
: incidental injustice to the former ruling
l class, or chauvinism, graft and merely
!, personal ambition here and there can
quite blot out or brush aside this reality.
For programs such as these to be
: realized, even approximately. IN a
sparSely settled, economically undevel-
!, oped land like Mexico calls for many
years of comparative peace and order.
5, It looked a year ago, after the better
feeling between the United States and
Mexico which followed the coming Of
{ Ambassador Morrow, as If this real"
3 Mexican revolution had, so to speak.
turned the corner.
Obregon's Assassination Is Setback.
The assassination of Obregon, who
, was expected to take things up where
, President Gales had left of, was set
[ back, naturally. but when Gales, in
, stead of continuing in the presidency.
| succeeded in passing the Office on to
: Pcrtes Gil with what was probably as
. close an apuroach to a genuine election
as could be expected In a country like
Mexico today, it really seemed as K
, the vicious tradition of military dicta-
, | tnrshin was beginning to Weld to more