A LAND OF ANARCHY

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 34, 4 November 1919, Page 7

A LAND OF ANARCHY

UNCLE SAM'S LAWLESS NEIGHBOUR PROBABLE FUTURE OF MEXICO _The truculent "Government" of Don vemrstiano Can-anna recently seized tho property of the Scottish-Mexican Oil Company. This' (writes Mr. Ignatius rhnyre, in the London "Observer") is tlio first confiscation under tho now Queretaro Constitution of 1917, which is openly aimed at tho elimination of all foreignersj even tho missionaries of raigion. Great _ Britain, Prance, Holland, and the United States promptly protested against tho now trend. Uur own invests ments in Mexico exceed ,£200,000,000; and B war-wasted world lias pressing needs of petroleum areas which bid fair to eclipse all others in prodigal production. Although barely scratched as yet, tho output of Mexican wells jiow exceeds a MjJion tons a month, and the duty alTeady brings it year to a State which has been a waiter of bloodshed and brigandage aver since the "Iron Despot," Portforio Diaz, passed away in Paris (that Mecca of Latin-AmoricaDs), in 1915. If we aro to nccapt the tests of its own Constitution" (1857), President Wilson told tho Washington Congress, in his time of trial, ".Atoxico has no Government." It is a crazy story, this- of Mexico— evon during Wilson's two terms, which began in 1912. Nothing' madder, or more fantastic, '■ ever appeared on a comic-opera stage or the Western movicr reels. Tyrant after tyrant' crosses the scene since the assassin, ■ Madero, succeeded Diaz. Tho last-named was an innkeeper's son—a half-bred, who became an army farrier, and for thirty years' was the life-nrid-death autocrat of a land greater than Trance., Germany, and Aus-tria-Hungary put together. After Madero and Dc la Barra came Victoriano i Huertu, a Miitec' Indian of pure blood. Then came Lnscurian and Carbajafl. Eulalio Gutierrez "reigned" at' the Palacio Narional for two months, and then fled with the contents of the Treasury. After him came Roque Garza (three months), then Largos Chazaro (two months). There followed fierce, affrays between Carranza, Villa, and Zapata. Meanwhile the whole twenty-eight States were given over to brigand jefes, like Candido Agnilar, who demanded "protection money" from British, American, and other foreign oil-companies to the tune of ,£12,000 a-month. . A Land of Lawlessness. The Cowdray. wteres'tg. refused to bo Med in this way. Thereupon , their pumps.were, smashed and the wells set. ablaze, causing enormous loss. " Millions of semi-savage neons, or Indian. serfs. | joined any bandit flag that' promised them a few cantavos n, day—and "a free hand" to dynamite the trains, burn towns, ravish women, and loot the foreigner. Mr. Henry Fletcher, the' U.S. Ambassador in Mexico City, has just" presented the House Committee' of Congress with a list of 217 Americans murdered in this lawless land. This does not include the U.S. troopers who were ambushed, nor the fatalities in American towns "shot up" by raiders, as at Colnmbiifl, N.M;' Here Pancho Villa'avenged himself, after Mr. Wilson had thrown him over and recognised Carranza as de' facto President of the sister Republic. .It should be borne in mind that Mexi-' eo's frontier marches with that of the United States for nearlv 2000 miles, much as Scotland's doea with. Erigla..id. That same border is a perplexing problem in itself. Here brown men and white wage a guerilla warfare that wax-is and wanes .•nnacconntably. Cattle thieving and spasmic violence aro endemic from Laredo to the Big Bend of. the Eio Grande—that, tricky river whose annual vagaries baffle the Boundary Commission in Washington. Mexico's hatred of America is very pronounced and.of long standing. The affronts put upon the Wilson. Administration since 1911 havo been open and flagrant. ITncrta. was called upon for reparation following an . insult to the Stars and Stripes. This he refused. Thereupon Admiral Mnyo took the Atlantic Fleet down to Vera Cruz; and demanded a salute. .This, again, was .refused. After a skirmish. , ashore the 'American Admiral sailed away without any satisfaction. War upon Foreigners. Then, after the invasion by the bandit Villa. General Pershing was sent into Mexico with a large force to capture the outlaw, "dead or alive." He retreated north again with nn empty cage, 'and his abortive attemot cost the Washington Treasury JMfI.OM.OOO. Such clashes with America in her "nnmilitary" day led Mexico to fallacious conclusions about her big neighbour. Tho peon wan taught that los- Yanquis ■ wero an unmartiul people, who put their trust in a dollar diplomarv, and measured all things by the business standard. Mr. Wilson's unlucky . phrase, "Too proud to fight," wag seized ii.oon by illiterate hordes, who yelled "Toro Americano!" at a bull in "the plaza that was nil too tame, .-.nd refused- to face the. lances of the chulos. Gradually, tho Pan-Latanism of CarTanza kindled all factions in Mexico. The Tesr.lt was the Queretaro Convention of 1917, which declared economic war upon all foreigners. ■ Thus Article XXVII. states'that: "In the nation is vested legal of petroleum and all hydrocarbons—solid, liquid, or gaseous." President. Wilson protested against this, pointing to the Mexican mining laws of 1881, 1892, and 1909; these are all explicit as to the ownership of mineral rights. "Already the taxes imposed," said the U.S. Government, "if they are not confiscatory in effect . . . they at least indicate a trend, in that direction." Carranza was also reminded that the Constitution of 1857 ordains that "Private property shall not he expropriated, except for reasons of public utility, and by means of due indemnification." Political Anarchy. To these and ninny other representations there was no reply at all, or, else high-flown insolence. The Queretaro Decrees give Carranza despotic powers: "The executive shall have the exclusive right to expel from the Republic forthwith any loreigner whose presence. ho may deem inexpedient." Even Christian missionaries are shut out. "Only a Mexican by birth may bo a minister of ony roligious ■ creed in Mexico." This, in a land in which foreign interests total •£700,000,000. American, Dutch, aud British capital (tho Cowdray Syndicate) raised the oil output .from one million barrels in 1907 to twenty-six millions in 1913. And the duty oii petroleum has been raised to 80s. a ton. If tho„Mexican'.Republic were a civilised land, as wo understand the phrase, this policy of exclusion would be bad enough. But Mexico is politically a mere anarchy. "It would bo tedious," cays Stalo Secretary Lansing, "to Tolata atrocity after atrocity, to illustrate ihe true nature aud extent of the widespread lawlessness and violence which have prevailed." Mr. Lansing instances only the Santa Ysahcl massacre. A party of Americans took train from Chihuahua to the Cusi mines. ' They were given safe conducts by C'arranzista officials. Yet that train was held up by'bandits. Eighteen of the American's wero stripped naked, and slaughtered in cold blood. Mexican horrors eclipse those of the Congo or the Niger; they are tho rule, and not the exception. State Secrotary Lansing has often scathed tho Carranza Tegime of brigandage and terror. "Not only are these murders characterised by ruthless brutality, but uncivilised acts of mutilation are perpetrated." Dynamiting trains, is a common occurrence; tho railways have been ruined. And these are largely British. One system—the National—which had a revenue of nearly ,£7,000,000, dropped to little more than .C-1000 in worthless paper monoy. It is intolerable that this 'stain of things can continue in a land which Humboldt described as "a treasurehouse of tho earth." One-third of Ijie world's silver camo from Mexico. The soil will grow anything, from cotton to Bugar. ■ • ■ But above all. a war-wasted world has need of-Mexico's fuel oil. Here are the richest petroleum areas. The Tamnico wells, in tho summer of 1917, produced 1,059,000 barrels a day. And there "Genfral Manuel Pelaez is lord—an Indian rlgand and blackmailer, whom "nrotcc-idon-money has made a millionaire. One gusher at Potrero del Llamo gave tOO.OOO barrels a day. The Old Faithful ,♦•11 ba» flowed for nine years; it can

fill an ocean tanker overnight. The Tampieo fields run 300 miles along the Gulf Coast, and extend inland for sixty miles. Experts say that Mexico's oil lands are barely touched; thoy extend down to the Guatemalan border, and beyond. . President Wilson's handling of tho ' Mexican weltor is the one .conspicuous failure of his two terms of ollice. Not until the notorious Zimmerman Note camo to light, in 1917. did he realise tho international danger. Karl vou Eckhardt, the Gorman Minister in Mexico City, was 1 directed from Berlin to plan an invasion of tho United States by menus of a Carranza onslaught, supported by German arms and money, and possibly with the support of Japan! In this way was Mexico to regain her "lost provinces"—tho three Border States of Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. The mistake President Wilson made—as Senator A. .T. Beveridge reminded hiiu—was in considering Mexico a "people," as the word .is commonly understood. It is no such tiling. Out of a population of possibly 15,000,000 (no census has ever been taken), fewer than 2.000,000 are of tho Caucasian race. A larger number aro i moslizos, or half-breeds. The rest—the vast, mass of peons, or serfs—are Indians of fifty tribes, speaking as many dialects. Mentally, morally, and physically the Mexican masses aro.far below the cul-ture-level of the ancient Aztecs. And now American must take thorn in hand, , though she has no great relish for tho , task. Mexico commands the ' Gulf, '. .which is at once the nutlet and annroach to the southern ports of tho United , . States. ' Mexico also dominates the Pn- , nama Canal, as well as the Near Pacific. . Moreover, there is the possibility of foreign invasion along the vast international border, which no military genius . or outlay can ever adequately defend. Therefore, emerging from the Great ' War as a naval and military Power of the first rank. 'America realises that tho "Hands Off Mexico" policy is at an end. ■ , Thero is nothing for it biit to declare-' a ' Protectorate, as.we did with Eeypt. . ' Treasure-house of Wealth. ' Upon all counts, then, .America must now assert herself, and that in a way , commensurate with her new status and | universal responsibilities. President ( Wilson, as wo know, was a late and xe- , luctant convert of the cult of "Force." , But his long education at the Paris Councils has. left the Chief Executive , with' no illusions about moral suasion . 'that ihas no Big Stick behind it, such as Roosevelt vainly urged, upon Congress for many years. The Gulf.of Mexico must become an ( American lake, as American statesmen of real prescience have long predicted. 1 Venustiano Carranza must be given ■notice to quit,'with all his brigand jefes. . The administration of tho sister Republic must be changed from nn orgio of blood 1 and fire and flagrant, looting to that of ..an orderly State—America's ; southern ] i bulwark, and a. real "treasure-house of the earth," such as the famous Prussian 1 traveller found it in Napoleon's day. • i As an American Protectorate, Mexico ' would become "a world-asset, instead of < the lurid'welter which has «o often dis- 1 tressed and. embarrassed President. Wil- ' son's Administration. "Mexico," says < that typical American, Mr. Secretary 1 Lane, of the Interior, "needs system treatment—not symptom-treatment. . . • We are preparing tho basis of a new Mexico. Wo see the way out, but at , present we have only jumped two or three of the hurdles." The; foreign claims for damage already i • filed in Washington against Carranza's : Government total .£200,000,000. The vast ( land is preyed upon indescribably by 1 "Generals'' and pretenders, each with his 1 rag-tag following and allotted zone.' • These include Aguilar and Felix Dias, j and the Brothers Cantu; Pancho Villa, j Felipe Angeles, Zapata, Alvarndo, and - the new "strong man," Alvaro Obrogon. Very quietly, the "new" America plans ; abiding peace and prosperity for those peon hordes in the. South. She is re-, solved at last to clear up this Mexican mess, firstly in her own national in-! ~ tareats, and then in those of ,• her European allies, who also . have great stakes in this rich, and semi-savage land.