Blind Men in Mexico
596 THE COMMONWEAL April 7, 1926 BLIND MEN IN MEXICO /TPHE one thing that becomes more and more evi¦*- dent during the course of the Mexican controversy is that sooner or later, for the...
...The Chairman: I notice you say that: "Foreign capitalists, with their immense concessions, have usually been willing to join the system of exploitation...
...This ground was apparently not solid enough to prevent the Doctor from shifting picturesquely in so far as more theoretic matters were concerned...
...Inman: Yes...
...Chairman, that our object in this program is, we trust, not simply to convert Mexican people— The Chairman (interrupting): You say "convert them...
...zealously: The Chairman: I notice you say here: "The Mexicans are an exploited people...
...Inman: Yes...
...Inman: Yes, sir...
...Inman: Yes, sir...
...Inman's account of the intimacy which existed between him, his friends, and General Carranza during the 1917 period...
...Inman: I mean to bring them into the church...
...but the people there are Catholics...
...Enter there, Reverend Samuel Guy Inman, secretary of the (missionary) committee on cooperation in Latin America, representing thirty mission boards, known as the author of a book about Mexico, and wearing fresh laurels gathered on the platform and in the press...
...What we quote here is a mere sample illustrative of the method in which Dr...
...Inman: Yes...
...The Chairman: What religion have they now, those whom you have been converting...
...The coming Senate hearings ought to provide something toward the success of this surgery...
...The Chairman: You refer to Kenneth Turner...
...The Chairman: What character of concession...
...Above all, we shall have to eliminate from the public m\nd a variety of propaganda which is the more insidious because it parades highly recommended...
...We gladly cooperate, or would gladly cooperate, with them in such movements as temperance or civic organization caring for the distressed, or anything of that kind...
...The Chairman: What character of concession have you in mind...
...yes, sir...
...Inman proved statements which he had fed to the public unhesitatingly and...
...Inman: I regard a good many statements in there as true...
...Inman: You take any number of those references that are made in Turner's book on Mexico...
...The Chairman: Written in collaboration, I believe, with Guitterez DeLara...
...Inman: Yes...
...Inman: I cannot recall any just at present...
...He read what he wanted to read...
...But I may say, Mr...
...The Chairman: Barbarous Mexico...
...And why...
...he believed what he wished to believe...
...There must be an honest and above-board presentation of facts concerning Mexico, independent of "oil" and racial feeling...
...Perhaps the following brief excerpt from the records of the hearing may, however, throw some flitting light on the matter...
...596 THE COMMONWEAL April 7, 1926 BLIND MEN IN MEXICO /TPHE one thing that becomes more and more evi¦*- dent during the course of the Mexican controversy is that sooner or later, for the sake of elemental human harmony, Americans will have to know wh^t they are talking about...
...The answer to that question would be a long story, but those who care for inferences will find much to guide them in Dr...
...The Chairman: Have you taken any steps to corroborate those statements in there that you say are true...
...It should, no doubt, be added that most Americans will grant the Protestant missionary workers their title to spiritual territory in Mexico...
...Inman: There are a good many of them who have not any religion at all...
...The Chairman: Do you mean to change them from one religion to another...
...That statement is made after due deliberation, is it...
...The Chairman: Proselytizing you mean...
...The Chairman: What immense concession do you know of, within your knowledge, that is held by any foreigner, American or other foreigner, in Mexico...
...The land baron and the priest have continued their holy alliance from the days of the Conquistadores till the present, playing alternately the one into the hands of the other, to keep the people in ignorance, superstition, and debt, so that the exploitation, both by padre and amo, would be sure and easy...
...Inman: Yes...
...In other words, what character of concession must it be...
...Meanwhile it will be profitable to examine the little-known records of the hearing before a subcommittee of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Sixty-sixth Congress...
...Inman: Not in any direct organization, at these times which I have been speaking of...
...How do you mean "convert them...
...What they cannot admit is that a right to manufacture facts is thrown into the bargain: The Chairman: And do you cooperate with the Catholic Church...
...That is true, is it...
...Inman: I should think it would be a concession from the government...
...Inman: Yes...
...We are laying the movement as you will see, on the plan of service in our program and while, of course, we have our religious convictions, and we intend to stand by these, yet we are down there simply for the purpose of changing theological beliefs...
...The Chairman: Do you regard that as authority...
...and we are making every endeavor to lay the program on the ground of social service...
...Inman: Excusing them, for example, from taxation and giving them certain privileges...
...The Chairman: A large majority of the people there are Catholics...
...It may be inferred from this little passage at arms that the worthy Doctor was nothing if not a pragmatist in his attitude toward evidence...
...Inman: No steps to corroborate them...
...Inman: Yes, sir...
...The Chairman: You just regard them as true because you have read them...
...The Chairman: How would the holding of any such concession, unless you can recall such concession, enable one to exploit the people of Mexico...
Vol. 3 • April 1926 • No. 22
