Evening star., 1936-06-29
BY GORDON GORDON.


MEXICO CITY, June 20 tN.ANA.)
Scene of one of the greatest soci-
illogical changes that have swept any
land In recent years-the efforts Of an
enslaved people to free themselves
from the serfdom of feudal life
Mexico today is spprehensively stag
gering into another Summer Of tur-
bulent dissension.
This land of the plumed serpent is
being harassed by strikes, rebel out
breaks and religious riots which are
terrorizing q considerable part OF the
countryside.
Five thousand scattered rebels are
pillaging villages and slashing of the
ears of school teachers The number
of the raids Is mounting each week
and. where one revolutionist falls
another takes his place.
Angry mobs Of pious women are
storming down cobblestone streets
rushing into the smoking muzzles OF
army rifles, and other Jealous cru
saders are setting fire to government
school buildings.
The casualties of the last three
months of this sporadic sniping total
500 dead and more hundreds wounded
q death list larger than in most OF
the major battles in Ethiopia.
Killings and Flights.
As always in Mexican history, the
clashes are confined chiefly to the
hinterlands. 1t is in the rugged
mountains Of Durango, the great
gorges of the Barrancas in Jalisco
the jungles of Vera Cruz and the
rocky heights Of Guanajuato where
men and women are killing for their
causes and fleeing TO retreats in the
wilds before the cavalry arrives.
Because OF such discomfort, Presi-
dent Lazaro Cardenas is still walking
the tight rope. In the bleachers sit
thousands who are cheering him with
the same unrestrained JOY with which
Fascist Italy halls Mussolini. But
tugginR ut the guy wires are four
powerful groups which are trying to
send him spinning into the net.
And, from the entrance, anxiously
watch observers from the United
States Government, determined to
protect, II need be. the $50, 900 tour
lists who are on their way here this
year, the thousands Of American citi-
zens who live here and the billion dol
lars that Americans have invested. one
of the heaviest stakes Americans have
in any foreign country.
These observers also are scrutiniz-
ing the surprisingly rapid spread OF
communistic ideas. For a baby Soviet
Russia along the southern border
would provide base Of operations
from which Moscow might penetrate
the United States with its propaganda
and agents. Communism was q
chimera in Mexico year ago, but to-
day it's beginning to become . stark
reality.
The thousands in the bleachers are
the workers and the farmers to whom
Cardenas Is q messiah. In little pueb-
los they swarm about flaming red
nanifestos while some one reads
aloud how the government is regain
ing for them their birth rights, stolen
from their peoples through the centu-
ries. With Nazi-like fervor they sslute
the black and red flag OF the Ma
tional Revolutionary party, which
dictates Mexican politics. II neces-
sary, they are ready to become cannon
fodder for the President.
UnquenchabIe Bitterness.
Those tugging at the guy wires,
though, hate him with an unquench-
able bitterness and each awaits an op-
portunity to topple him. These four
groups are:
/. Parents, who sincerely believe
that the socialistic schools are a
threat to family life. They accuse
the instructors of fostering immoral
ity, especially In their program OF
sex education, and of teaching their
children atheistic doctrines. They
pray for the reopening Of the
churches, but they 60 further for the
church school. They are ready to
die, and they have died by the scores.
Unveiled. however, they are power
less, but they dream Of a strong man
who may arise to lead them. Num-
bering in the many thousands. they
would gladly march under his banner
In a religious crusade.
2. The Communists, who believe
that Cardenas Is moving too slowly.
They trl kl through the country
preaching TO the workers their credo
Of. ssyniution .hys bicod. - eppossd