Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-12-19
BY HUBERT w. KELLEY.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

MEXICO CITY, December l9.-lI
the cigarette doesn't taste as advertised
It is the altitude, 7,349 feet Of it. il
the carburetor drinks a liter of gaso-
line to the mile. about the same mileage
quantity of beer consumed by Ameri-
: cans on the inbound express, 1t Is the
altitude.
If the little man with the plush hat,
the violet suit the Windsor tie and the
vast mustaches gets the pulquerious
idea that he is great tenor and i'm
poses his delusion on the PaSeo de la
Reforma, 1t is the altitude.
1t Is the Altitude!
A slight motor car Grassland the
city of Mexico resounds with thenl--a
fall on a hail-crusted sidewalk. a bowl
Of unpalatable soup. a slight earthquake
or q revolution-all the same, senior. 1t
Is the altitude.
with a pounding heart, one pants
three marble flights 10 visit a govern
ment secretary. The secretary is out,
indisposed by the altitude. The bust
ness man and his wife fly to Cuerna-
Ssca, which, having only 5,06S feet
for its shortcomings. They have gone
to escape the altitude. He cannot
sleep. She has neurasthenia. 1t is the
altitude, and indeed, it is. Perhaps,
after all, the altitude forced Senior
Rubio to go to the United States. :
There was one man in the City of
Mexico. however, who for more than
two years survived the altitude. Dwight
w. Morrow, now in the United States,
is diminutive in stature. That may
be the reason. He did not suffer the
altitude of a 6-footer. Certainly he
did not suffer the altitude of many Am
bassadors.
CIear-Headed Business Man.
Through all his arduous experience as
the United States Ambassador to Mexi-
co he proved the clear-headed business
man, untrammeled by illusions, simple
in character, honest and hospitable.
The City of Mexico makes cynics OF
really healthy Americans. But cyniclsm
was turned away at-the embassy door.
Everybody who has been associated
with Mr. Morrow in the City Of Mexico,
American or Mexican, is sorrowful over
the turn in events which sent him back
to the United States. 1t is not merely
formal grief: it is real.
He did not maintain an embassy; he
maintained a home. He was more the
friend and advisor than the Ambassa-
dor His doors we're open every We'd
neSday afternoon, when he received in
formally. And his Office was open al
ways to any man upon legitimate
mission, whether he sought justice, In
formation or friendship.
"Pull up chair" he was accustomed
to say, this little man in frock coat,
rubbing his hands before the cracking
chunks of his great white fireplace.
Force of Mind Shines in Eyes.
Not an imposing man at glance. but
when he turns those penetrating gray
blue eyes upon one, eyes friendly and
Ial-{11ia ~ naPiOIic feels the force
of his simple, strong intelligence, a
light which burned in country whose
sky Diego Rivera has painted black.
Mr.. Morrow did not seek to fathom
the Mexican mind particularly, and
concede to it. It would be an Anglo
Saxon's life work to draw from hetero-
geneous Mexico any formula for a
working relationship on a Mexican
basis. He simply presented himself as
an American business man with Aneri-
can methods, applying them as he
would have applied them in New York
or Chicago. He never ceased to be an
American in Mexico. He did not even
acquire very adequate speaking knowl-
edge Of Spanish. His conversations
with Gales, Gil and Rubio were con-
Quoted for the most part through an
interpreter.
There by the fireplace-what a de-
lightful fireplace in the chill of Mexi-
can morning, one of the few fireplaces
in the City of Mexico-he lighted a
cigarette and rumpled his gray hair,
staring, as he thought, at the red
embers.
Solved Problems "BrOOding."
Brooding at that fireplace, he helped
to solve many of MeXico's most difficult
problems these last two critical years.
He mediated the church difficulty. which
threatened to rend Mexico again, bring
ing together the government and the
archbishops
In a disinterested way he helped to
compromise the trouble between the oil
interests and the government, although
fundamentally the dificulty in which
the oil companies found themselves
through the enforcement of the sub
soil land laws was matter in which
the Government of the United States
had no direct interest. The little bank
er, skilled as he was in finances, was
able, too, to assist the Mexican govern
ment in the rehabilitation of its finances