Milford chronicle., 1939-01-20
WERE THE CARDS sTACkEpl
]. E. Jones

If the United States stops the ma
chinery of international law in deal
ing with major Latin-American af
fairs as proposed by the Lima Con
ference it will mean a long waitin.
period for a special report from ;
Commission of Experts on Interna
tional Law and the Permanent Cod
ification Commission 10 the mex
Pan-American Conference. Under
such circumstances the so. called
Good NeighbOr Policy would auto
matically become a one-way street
with everything going out and noth-
ing coming in until the next Pan
| American Conference convenes, five
years from now.
The proposals of Mexico and Ar
gentine provided %: waving of
diplomatic Intervention, (2): discon-
tinuance of use of force TO protect
foreign investments, (S): obligation
of citizens of one country engaged
in business in another country of
Latin-America to become national
ized.
These three proposals would rem
der ineffective the efforts of our
United States State Department to
protect American property rights in
Latin-America. Settlements for con-
fiscation of farming lands owned by
American citizens was recently
agreed TO by Mexico. In order to
avoid further proceedings by the
Argentine and Mexico stacked the
cards at Lima to substitute munich
pal laws for international law.
Conceivably many Latin-American
courts could not be counted upon to
render impartial Justice in the case
of seizures dictated by the ruling
powers and therefore the last ves-
tige of protection of American prop !
erty rights in Latin-American coun- !
tries would be destroyed by the ac- /
ceptance of these dangerous doc
trineS.
However, failure to fight this i'm
portant principle out once and for
all means that the issue now will
De made a political one in Latin
American countries. Undoubtedly
several of them will join together
md resist the United States in its
arnest desire to protect legitimate
Investments abroad. In other words,
he shelving of the problem does not
olive the basic question in any way,
hape or form. The New York Times
ispatch. in commenting on the
peech of Ambassador Castillo Ma
era of Mexico. made after the mat
ar was referred to the commission, {
that he is now advocating '
le appointment of a special COM J
issiOn to study this whole matter. l
his would indicate that Mexico |
ants to make it a matter of con-
ant agitation during the time that d
i'll elapse between the present and 1
e next conference. 1t is reason =
,le to expect, therefore. that the Z
ouds of confiscation throughout .
have not been dissi- .
tied by the Lima Conference, and .
e problem will arise in the future y
harass us until we take definite =
tiOn in Mexico TO stop confiscation q
Id compel the restoration of prop :,
ty seized by that Government. -
Apparently what is happening in =
SAiNO AOilONS dbOul lllc same
urse as that which happened in ~
1t is of recent history that =,
was bankrupt, and was -
lanced and built up by British G,
ans. .,
Mexico is being built up on silver h,
rchases. Meanwhile she is using in
nerican oils that she confiscated hr
st March in bartering with Ger N
any; she is playing fast and loose IN
commerce and political sympa-
les with Communists and Nazis. M
d cultivating trade and friendly M
atiOns with Japan. MI
Those being the facts what's TO tir
event Mexico from developing into on
formidable enemy in the advance u,
mt of European isms throughout Dc
while being financed GA
the United States-just as Ger fol
ny has become a military men, III;
to England after having been I'D
anced by the British? on
The United States is being forced mi
o a position where either it must ice
p Mexico or suffer irreparable err
nages in prestige. 1t would not
surprising if we heard more
'ut this problem from Secretary
State Hull when he returns with
delegation that accompanied him
Lima. nei
nm