MEXICO

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 103, 2 May 1914, Page 6

MEXICO

MR. WILSON'S PROBLEM WHAtf.IS THE REMEDY? THE SITUATION REVIEWED. It looks as if Mr. Wilson had bitten off a little more than he can chew. Only time can chow whether or not this ib the case; tout Mexican jerked beef is not a diet easy to assimilate (writes R. B. Cuiininghame Graham, in- the Mooches* tfet Guardian). Quite clearly Mr. Wilson was -within, his rights when he declined to Tecognise General Huerta as President if it Beamed good to him; but when he further said that never under any ciraimstances should Huerta be the President of Mexico he went a little far. In fact, whilst saying he would never intervene he intervened, for the very nature of an intervention is an interference with the interior affairs' of a. country over wdiich you have no na-tural right ,to rul&. ? That he'took-such a stepin perfect faith is plain to all, for' Mr. Wilson is a man as honest as the day. Still the mere fa«t of his intention does not make his step more prudent. One hears about an honest broker (whatever • that may be) 5 but honest schoolmasters aro not so common on Presidential thrones, or chairs I think they call the things. An honest pedagogue, looking upon the United as a High School and, on Mexico as a naughty boy to be deprived of play till he has purged himself of his contempt, is a new view of things. A WORLD IN ITSELF. Most schoolmasters err, not from in* tention, but from lack of knowledge of the world. Mexico is a world in itself 5 extremely difficult to know ; cut off from ths United States by language, race, by hiiitory, and by a bar which in itself alone renders community of thought between the countries almost impossible. The United States takes its traditions from ourselves, and, as is frequent in all cases of derived traditions, holds in their entirety beliefs and prejudices which, with ourselves, time and the daily contact with peoples at least our equals have greatly modified. We, though we do not understand it, have to allow, just as we allow that rain and fog , exist, the existence of the Latin point of view. The Latins, equally without the least comprehension of it, have to allow that of the English. ( Neither can afford to act as if his neighbour's outlook on the world was non-existent, merely because, he cannot see it standing in his own backyard. The point of view of the citizen of America, and that of the Mexican' are distant as the Poles. The United States took from ourselves the reverence for abstract justice and for la\v as an entity. t The ( Mexican_ inherited , from Spain the idea of individual justice (or injustice) when wrongs appeared too heavy for endurance. Thus, though, of course, the American no more acts up to his own code than we ourselves do, or than the French or the Chinese, he still holds that human life is sacred. The Mexican holds life cheaply, as did his ancestors ih Spain, So did the Aztecs, than whom' no race more savage was to be found in all America. From the two races the Mexicans have sprung. In Spain, ill the old Carlist wars, prisoners on both sides were always butchered, and in Mexico killing prisoners in civil war has always beeh the rule. It does not strike men who hold life cheaply in the same way it strikes ourselves. After all, it in not killing prisoners, but kilHng, that is the crime against the Holy Ghost. Perhaps from haying Kvod in youth in lands where killing prisoners was a frequent thing, it does not strike me with such horror as it does other people. Where ig the difference between the killing of a man who has fought to the last cartridge and killed many of your men, and then throws up his hands, and shooting down a regiment that has been manoeuvred into a place where it cannot resist? In either case you shoot men down who have no power left of resistance, and, the distinction seems to me a little finely drawn. I* is quite possible to shoot a prisoner and still in ordinary affairs to be humane. Those who shoot pheasants and attend bull-fights do, not a* a rule find any pleasure in torturing a cat, and I have seen the audience in a bull-ring rise with a roar of wrath upon a bullfighter who killed a pigeon with his sword as it flew past him in tho ring. VILLA, CARRANZA, AND HUERTA. When Mr. Wilson made his protest against Huerta's Presidency he did a service to mankind. We did the same in Scrvia ourselves. When he went further he was sure to fail, as all men fail who threaten without force behind them I to make themselves obeyed. He must have known that Mexico was self-sup-I porting, and hence a financial boycott had no significance. If ho did not,

' either he had no knowledge of the world or he was badly ; eerved by those •. who should have known. This want of knowledge comes from a failure to take in another point of view. Had it boen any European State, or had a process , of this kind been applicable to the United States, it would have Boon brought either to their knees. In Mexico life and conditions wove arranged differently. The mines were owned ' chiefly by foreigners, hence, all financial operations fell upon them and left the Mexicans unscathed.- Huerta must have laughed grimly in his sleeve, for he knew well that lie was quite beyond the reach of such a boycott as long as Mexico grew crops. General Cftrranza, in the north, was in another case, but he, too, was beyond the reach of all financial operations as long as the great herds of cattle roamed the plains. Then Mr. Wilson played his only card, and raised the prohibition on the import of arms. That, too, has failed, as it was bound to fail, for General Carranaa, powerful in the north, has neither transport nor such a force as he can move. His men are chiefly guerrillas, each bringing his own horse ahd gun, but, like the of old, not liking to go far from their homes. Lastly, there was another difficulty. General Carranza, once Governor of Coa- . huila, lives upon protestations of his love of liberty. lie, 100, shoots and . hangs p«s6ners, or at the least allows , them to be shot and hanged, with equanimity. His understrapper, Geneva! Villa, murders with his own hands, and both of them refuse any investigation of ' their deeds. Therefore between the three—Villa, Carranza, and Huerta—' who, by the way, styles himself the ' Cromwell of -Mexico, just as his predecessor, General Santa Ana, used to call himself the Napoleon ol the West,' there is not much to choose. t No one can say that any one of them is a man without reproach. So Mr. Wilson has got himself stalemated, and Mexico is left a prey to any leader, who can gather a few hundred men and go on robbing to the cry of Liberty. This • kind of warfare 1 have seen many a time. Nothing destroys and wastes a country more. Nothing , sets brother against brother more effec- ■ tually; nothing dissolves so utterly all principles of kindness between man and man. A little of such strife converts a 'paradise into a desert. The very . animals turn wild again, and fly before mankind like antelopes. Worst of all, it has a fascination for people who have become accustomed to it, although it falls upon the peaceful with the greatest force. Two anecdotes will serve to illustrate ' my meaning. , v A general, at a banquet in a revolu- *' tionary State, is said to have deplored, "the approach of peace, with all its misery." Another to have written to , a friend, "I send you three hundred volunteers. Do not forget to send me back the chains." 'lhi» is what now is going on in. Mexico, . Before - the war General Ten&fcoß was Baid to have a million head of cattle in the States of Coahuila, and of Nuevo Loon. Now all his cattle have either been eaten up or have gone wild, and he himself lives on a little farm in California. Both parties carry on their strife under the name of Liberty. "Long live the King; give me your cloak," the Spanish proverb says. In Mexico it is the same. I fancy that the ordinary man is ia. the same position as the poor Chinese in Cuba, who went out peddling with a carb of notions in the old Spanish times. A» revolution was perpetual, and he knew < little Spanish, he had learned twophrases that he hoped would prove effectual. Somewhere about Pina* del ,Rio a party stopped him and his cart. The men were dressed in drillj earned machetes, wore large straw hats, and rode their horses as only those can ride who pass their lives" upon'ar horse. " Tlu»" chief, after -abstracting all that took his fancy in the cart, said : "See here, Chinaman, for who ate you—for Spain, 01" the Republic of the Single Star?" The poor Chinese "&withe*ed" a little, as we &ay in Scotland, ahd then called out, "Viva Cubita libre," but scai-cely had he finished than a rain of blows descended on him, and he was left half dead. The men whom he had taken fc* a band of patriots were Spaniards in di&> guise. Rubbing his shoulders, and dragging his i own cart, for they had carried off his mule, he set out once again' upon his way, Btumbling along the bright red road, and cursing &s he vent. After an hour or two, as ho came round a turn, he fell upon another band of men. These were in rags; their machetes had no sheaths, their teet were stuck in sandals, and their horses had their manes and tails all full of burrs. Once more he was surrounded and robbed of everything that still remained, and once again he was called upon to testify. After some hesitation, he shouted out, "Viva. Espana," thinking, the second band was sure to be com* Eosed of Spaniards disguised as patriots.' >nee more a rain of blows descended on his head, and when he came back to his senses he was lying, in the road alone. ' This time even his coat was carried off. No one can s&y that such a state of things is satisfactory to, ordinary mon. What ia the remedy? hi the first place, to ,- recognise that .Mexico is a selfgoverning and an independent State,, and that All interference. from the out-, side will only make f things worse. Sure--ly, it doefj not seem impossible to compromise. If Mr. Wilson would drop bullying— for though he bullies with the best intentions he still bullies— and suggest something that both General Carrara and Huerta can agree to, > much bloodshed might be saved. If he cannot, and as he has no force at his disposal, ahd France and England both combined could do .but little if they intervened, it may be best to let the rival parties fight it out until they are exhausted. In fact,' what ehe is there that anyone can do?