Evening star., 1938-04-24
y. S.>Mexico Rapprochement
Seen as Far>Reaching Triumph
Sudden Change in Feeling Between Two Smoothing
Flare.Up Over Oil Held Good
Neighbor Omen.

and it is asking much Of people 50 proud
and sensitive as the Mexicans to accept that
as fait accompli-and forget it.
The republics of Cuba and Brazil have
been traditionally the best friends Of the
United States in the Americas, and Mr..
Roosevelt could count on their warm sup
port for his good neghbor policy. The fact
Of this special friendship is recognized in
the other American. republics-and dis
counted. That Cuba and Brazil should go
along" with good neighborism, they expect
these two countries would go along with
almost any suggestion Mr.. Roosevelt might
make.
Mexico Is Key.
But if Mexico, the only American nation
which has been at war with the United
States and the only one which has lost
territory to the United States, should cuddle
up to Uncle Sam and become an apostle
for good neighborism-tha would impress
all the fence sitting American republics as
nothing else could
That would be the final death blow to
the bogey of the "Coloso del Norte"; 1t
would put an end to suspicious OF our good
faith; it would be taken as a guarantee
that politically and economically the coun-
tries Of Latin America had nothing to fear
from us. And it would clear the way for
the coming of continental American soli-
darity which. it seems logical to surmise.
| must be In the minds of President Roose-
welt and Secretary of State Hull, as the
ultimate defense of democracy in the
Americas against the impact of totalita-
rlanism from abroad
That statesmanlike hope was the real
stake in the Mexican imbroglio, and not the
tate OF the oil properties in Mexico owned
by American companies. For If the WIDEN
Ing schism between the two countries had
not been closed when it was, the moderate
and friendly Cardenas regime would sooner
or later have gone the way of all Mexican
administrations which have not been able to
keep on good terms with Washington Civil
order would have been disrupted, and in
the accompanying chaos the opportunity
would be wide open for some freebooter to
achieve to power with the rallying cry of
Mexico for the Mexicans" 1t has hap
pened before
Another possible eventulity having i'm
plications of an extremely serious nature
for the United States would be rap
prochement between Mexico and the Fascist
nations-Germany, Italy, or Japan, or all
three.
The Fascist nations are all oil-hunprv
Also they look with covetous eyes on the
lucrative trade the United States now en-
i0VS with
regime is no less unfriendly to Fascism
than the United States, it might, if driven
into corner, accept the overtures now
being made to it by the Fascist DICTATOR
ships. If it should happen that Mexico
leased or sold to Japan, as some have pro-
posed, any of the oil properties formerly
held by Americans in Mexico, it is doubtful
If war could be avoided
The one thing indispensable for the
working out of Mexicos internal and ex-
ternal difficulties is time, and it seems
now as the result of the patience and for.
bearance of President Roosevelt and secre-
tary OF State Hull, and the Willingness to
meet them half way of the Mexican officials.
that President Cardenas is to have time.
loyalty OF the masses in Mexico, and be-
cause of his strength with them he has
been able to moderate the strongly left
wing sentiment of the country which, if
unchecked, would carry the nation all the
way into Communism. Through the far
from extreme social legislation he has
sponsored, he has, for the time being at
least arrested and even reversed the trend
toward fortnight radicalism.
Credit to Daniels.
Today the aspirations of Mexican labor
are far less Utopian than they were in
1884 when Cardenas became President
Then, even the hiring of a servant entailed
such onerous obligations and conditions
that only the very wealthy were willing to
assume the risks
Who it was that supplied the driving
force in bringing about the resumntion n
corolal relations between the two govern
ments Is, naturally, one of the secrets of
diplomacy. Part of the credit assuredlv
should 60 to Ambassador Daniels In Mexico
ClCy' VINO mas been surprising success in
following the methods of the late Dv,obt
Morrow-all the more surprising consider.
ing that 1t was he who gave the order to tn.
Navy in 1915 to take Vera Cruz. The
Presidents of the two countries, Roosevelt
ana Cardenas. and Secretary Hull, also de-
serve applause for their farsighted states
manshlp. But the guess of the writer is that
the man most deserving Of laurel wreath
Is That resourceful. tenacious and extraord-
mary parsonage, the Mexican Ambassador
70 washington, the surgeon-soldier- dip
lomatist orator linguist art connoisseur-
master bridge player, Senior Don Francisco
Castillo Najera.
TriDlets Confuse Arn,v