Evening star., 1937-04-25
BY GASTON NERVAL.

A MOTHER step forward In the
~ march Of tho good neighbor'
~ policy was completed. a few
= days ago, when Secretary Of
State Corden Hull and the Mexican
Ambassador to Warrington, DR.. Fran
cisco Castillo Najera, signed q treaty
providing for the termination Of
article VII Of the Gadsden treaty Of
1853.
The article had been designated
by Mexican writer's as "the last foreign
mortgage on Mexican sovereignty"
for It authorized the construction Of
plank and railroad across the bthmus
Of Tehuantepec under the protection
Of the United States, which reserved
to itself the right Of free transit over
the sthmus for its troops, munitions,
persons and merchandise.
The provisions Of article VIII Of
the Gadsden treaty had never been
operative, and they had been, prac-
tically, rendered obsolete by reason
Of the subsequent development Of
other means Of communication be-
tween the Atlantic and Pacific Coasts
OF the United States, but the theo-
retical infringement upon Mexican
sovereignty which they involved was
still in existence, and in contradiction
with the new Latin American policy
Of the State Department. Such con-
tradiction appeared more and more
IN evidence as the new policy, the
good neighbor" policy of President
Roosevelt and Secretary Hull, became
more firmly entrenched and more
widely recognized by Latin Americans
as the beginning Of period Of good
will and rectification of past errors
Efforts Made in 1S47.
As early as 1S47, the United States,
through its diplomatic agent, Trist,
attempted to secure from Mexico
special rights Tor the Government
and citizens Of the United States in
the Isthmus Of Tehuantepec The
efforts were thwarted by the energetic
| opposition Of the Mexican Plenipo-
tentiaries, De la Rosa and Pena y Pena.
Three years later the United States,
which was already becoming anxious
to secure the exclusive right to all ways
of interoceanic communication in the
New World. sent a Minister to Mexico,
Letcher, with instructions to negotiate
treaty which, under the guise of a
joint defense of the isthmus, would
have given the United States the right
to intervene in the section of Mexican
territory. He was helped in his en-
| deavors by the fact that an old con-
| cession given by the Mexican authori-
ties in 1912, to Jose Garay for con-
struction Of an interoceanic way
through Tehuantepec had come into
the possession of United States in
| terests.
Two successive treaties obtained by
| Letcher, in 1850 and 1851, were re-
| jected by the Mexican legislature
which resented their provisions for
outside military protection of the
| proposed way across the isthmus.
In 1853, however, when Santa Anna,
supported by the wealthy landowners,
| the clergy and the army, became
once more, and for the last time, the
boss of Mexico, the United States
| lOuuu lilOIc pIOpltlOUS ClCulIlSldIlCcS
for the attainment of its purposes.
The Governor Of New Mexico, in the
spirit Of manifest destiny" which was
then in vogue, had ordered the occu-
patton of the Mexican territory Of
La Mesilla, north Of Chihuahua. and
to the protests of the Mexican authori-
ties had replied reminding them that
| the United States, If 1t SO wished,
could acquire not only that but any
additional lands.
Deal for $7,000,000.
A tyrannical and corrupt regime
like Santa Anna's, incapable of de-
Tending the national territory and in
dire need Of funds to maintain itself
in power, was not difficult to negotiate
with. For 100000 Santa Anna
gave way both in La Mesilla and in
| Tehuantepec. The GadSden treaty
not only waived all Mexican claims
to the territory seized by New Mexico,