Grey River Argus TUESDAY, March 5th., 1929. MEXICAN REVOLUTION.

Grey River Argus, 5 March 1929, Page 4

Grey River Argus TUESDAY, March 5th., 1929. MEXICAN REVOLUTION.

Little surprise attaches to the news of a breakaway from the present regime iu Mexico of a large part not only of the Army, bitt also of the Aavy. In seven States and in seven warships the rederal forces are reported to have ranged themselves under the revolutionary flag. It might be asked why a new President like Gil should so early in his term be thus challenged. His succession to Calles was in a sense accidental, inasmuch as the man designated by that ruler to be his successor, General Obregon, was removed by.the hand of the assassin. The reason, however, why the present rising is not unexpected. is that the new regime of Gil is in reality only a perpetuation of the rule of 'Calles. Indeed, only that there has been a strange silence in the press of most countries. ineluding that of Britain (except the Daily Express) and America, it would have been generally known that for a long time past Sonora and other States have been in a state of semi-rebellion against the Calles regime, which has been at war, not only with the Church, but with the small farmers, small oil concerns, and industry generally. Xot long ago. Calles and his supporters lost the workers’ backing when his Socialistic professions were proved 1o be no inone than the merest camouflage for a predatory dictatorship under which Calles and his friends enriched themselves in lands and wealth at the expense of everybody else except one particular- set of interests. Those interests, naturally enough, were the biggest oil combines, which to-day are putting on the screw, with the addition of Russian oil to their monopoly, upon the British public in particular. Calles’s regime had 1o rely entirely on the oil monopolists for bare costs as his regime has seen the decline and yuin of almost every interest in ifexieo. He has enjoyed American capitalistic press patronage for years because, under the guise of being a proletarian, he has sold the finest oil of Mexico to the biggest trusts at rates enabling them to make vast fortunes for their shareholders. The peasantry of Mexico have been plundered no less than the larger land holders, and point has been given to the public discontent every other week by the long succession of arbitrary executions ordered without trial, for those who attempted to stand up against the decrees for- the suppression of the religion of the people. How many thousands in the Calles term thus went to their doom may not be known, but it would appear that, whatever the upshot of the present stand against the Calles-Gil autocracy, the term of the persecutions is at last at hand. Gil is doubtless a straw man, for he is reported as having “summoned” Calles to lead “his” army. It is unlikely, if he does so successfully, that he will be so shortsighted as to persevere with the policy that has provoked this rising. The rival with whom the revolutionaries would replace Gil is doubtless, only a personification of the desire for a relaxation of arbitrary rule. The Mexican elections of recent years have been only a travesty of democracy. The truth is that the country has wilted under a dictatorship far more ruthless and far less enlightened than the long one under Porfirio Diaz, who at least allowed' industry to thrive and refrained from religious persecution. America has certainly prevented in earlier rebellion by her decree that no arms shall pass her border into Mexico, except to the order of the Calles regime. Thus it is probably the betterarmed still, although the revulsion of the Army and Navy may make the odds more equal. It is to he honed that as speedy and peaceful a settlement as possible is secured, and that the result will he the removal of the manifold and genuine causes of popular discontent.