Mexico: Occident Versus Orient

...Can she do it...

...Mexico's struggle with her agrarian problem is therefore the struggle which will determine her fate as a nation...

...Domestic inertia, not foreign capital, is her present misfortune...

...Until the condition is re-moved the symptom will remain, and stern measures will accomplish nothing permanent...

...Mexico's future does not depend upon modern, large-scale industrial development, nor yet upon mod- em, large-scale agricultural enterprise...

...The economic power which the Church for- merly had cannot be restored, and the Church's in-fluence in politics will therefore decline...

...The task was to rethink scholasticism in modern terms, particularly in relation to modern science...

...Never has there been a lack of good land, but the problem was and is to win the Indian to till it...

...As Presi- dent Calles ironically remarked, "the foreigner has left not even his culture behind...

...Does another revolutionwstill further miserywawait this unhappy nation...

...The absence of a native middle class, even a peasant class, leaves the country at the mercy of the army, of events--a harrowing fate...

...In any event, the future no less than the present must take account of Mestizo and Indian alike...

...Add the unworkableness of the agrarian pro- gram, and the future becomes disconcerting, for in agriculture must the destiny of the nation take root...

...The time would seem to be ripe 5or the emergence of a frankly dualistic philosophy...

...Thompson applies to them his interpretation of the Mendelian law of reversion into primal types, sharing in great measure, either consciously or unconsciously, the opin- ions aga'nst intermarriage which Spencer secretly ex- pressed to the Japanese government, when in effect he advised Japan to permit neither foreigners nor their capital to gain a foothold in the island empire: December 8, I926 THE COMMONWEAL I25 a conclusion which would mean the ultimate extinction of the Mestizo...

...often peons have joined their landlords in resisting further distribution, and Mexico is now obliged actually to import agricultural products which she formerly raised herself...

...That is the first stage of this historic last battle...

...The way has not yet been opened by which the Indian may return to the land and develop the culture for which he longs...

...To the Obregon-Calles r~gime goes the credit of sensing the country's real need: agriculture, carried on by the native population...

...In any event, order at home and friendship abroad must accompany the nation's creative awakening--the development of a peasant folk, with a culture its own...

...with President Calles ineligible for another term, and Obregon also if the constitution be not amended (an amendment is being proposed...

...Jmlrez undertook to wed the Indian again to the land, but the human tree which had been uprooted and bled and which had so long to draw its sustenance from alien elements could not be easily nor quickly re-planted, even in indigenous soil...

...in high government circles even, its failure is admitted...

...Her mineral and petroleum resources, with her tropical agricultural products and raw materials, would stand her in good stead...

...The experience which America has gained and is gaining in her government of the Philip- pine Islands will enable her to deal more understand- ingly with her Mexican neighbor...

...But every situa- tion, every human condition, has within it the seeds of its own fate...

...Just taxation and freedom of operation, with protection of.lawfully acquired rights, is the only basis upon which the petroleum or any other indus...

...Illusory has been this independence--a mockery...

...still, both must base their.claim to recognition upon that same order, merely stt stituting public ownership and democratic manage~lent for private ownership and individual manageme~,t...

...Agriculture and industry, followed in scattered rural centres, not as business enterprises, but as means of independent livelihood, would avoid congestion and standardization, and would harmonize with the natural bent of the population--a bent which, if encouraged, might acquire the momentum of a de-velopment...

...Was not capital--surplus labor--the instnment by ~hich man lifted himself out of the jungle t::) become a cultured being...

...She also is attain- ing a world outlook...

...but her spir- itual hold upon the people will continue...

...from the outset it was devoted to the old conception of truth as something which does not change with men's minds, but remains fixed and therefore--and only therefore--permits of growth in knowledge...

...Might not the western world be then lean- ing eastward and the e~tstern world westward...

...Again Indian Mexico is re- jecting western civilization...

...It is an epoch wherein Caesar reigns, and "to Caesar must be rendered what is Caesar's...

...s61| ~armers are born and reared, not educated...

...Mexico's path lies in the direction of the small, in- tensively cultivated farm in agriculture and the small shop in industry, the former fitting the Indian, the latter the Mestizo...

...The fate of a nation cannot be reckoned otherwise than in terms of cen-turies...

...her temples must be restored, and the government must relinquish its power of interfering with the internal administra- tion of the Church, such as limiting the number of priests and preventing the teaching of religion in par- ochial schools...

...With iron hand Diaz sought to exterminate banditry and foster modern ranching and industrial methods, and once more a western castle was washed from the shores of the indian sea...

...Futile must be any attempt to resist the trend of the time...

...With-out capital neither socialism nor communit:m could flourish for a day: why, therefore, attack~ capital...

...Had Ju~irez had before him another life's span, his star might have guided the republic toward untold heights...

...but, then, governing Mexico in any circumstance would be a stupendous task...

...Possessed of many of Lincoln's attributes, he suc- ceeded in striking the rare chord of harmony between Orient and Occident, retaining throughout the staunch friendship of the United States...

...wherein the city rules and the country is a mere prov- ince...

...But certain conclusions seem in-evitable...

...Agriculturally self-sustaining...

...Six important schools have appeared in the field, two idealistic (neo-Hegelianism in Eng- land and neo-idealism in Italy) three realistic (new realism, critical realism, neo-scholasticism) and one which is neither and both (pragmatism...

...Ac-cordingly, we find Canon Mercier, as was then his title, following courses in medicine under Charcot in Paris, then devoting himself to the study of physiology, chemistry, and mathematics, and finally securing, with the assistance of the Pope, the foundation as a part of the University of Louvain of the Ecole Saint Thomas d'Aquin in which philosophy was to be pursued in...

...prolonged, it may make her ruin complete...

...What if she should hold out another four centuries, or two, or even one...

...Exact science, however, often serves but to undo itself, let it be stretched far enough...

...Hence, the agrarian pro-gram has but served to make Mexico land-poor...

...Unfortunately, the program is far from successful...

...with the human materials at hand, as Presi-dent Calles himself must realize, the task befits a genius, if indeed it is not impossible...

...I24 THE COMMONWEAL December 8, I926 MEXICO: OCCIDENT VERSUS ORIENT By JOHN KEPPLER ( This is the second o[ two aricles on Mexico by Mr...

...No more than the Indian's choice of what to him seems the lesser of two evils, the greater being slow death in congested centres, where disease and mortality are admittedly astounding...

...No one, understanding the futility of revolutions, could wish her such a disaster...

...why that energy is not directed toward saving the na- tion from immediate peril...

...the beginning of all true independence is agriculture...

...Neither is weak isola- tion her alternative, granting that it were possible...

...In fact, the economic methods of the revolution differ from the methods of the Diaz r6gime only in this: that Diaz was frankly a capitalist, whereas the revolutionaries were and are avowedly proletarian...

...Under the present agrarian pro- gram--in operation ten years and more--2,5oo,ooo acres of privately-owned lands have been expropriated and distributed among adjoining villages, payment (with the consent of the United States) to be made in bonds instead of cash...

...During four centuries of foreign penetration, Mexico, although seriously wounded, has not su0-cumbed...

...It would not be the first time events had brought both nations together upon com-mon ground...

...Thus from the outset neo-scholasticism stood opposed to the relativ- ism which has been the dominant mood in modern thought, outside of philosophy as well as in it...

...Socialism and commualsm are merely phenomena of this industrial age, and since the age itself does not appeal to Mexico, it is quite un-likely that its phenomena will...

...It was no man's theory...

...Habit, hard work, manage-ment, and capital are needed in modern agriculture, and of these the Indian possesses only the willing-ness and ability to work, with which alone he cannot satisfy his rural longing...

...One cannot help wondering why so much energy is t26 THE COMMONWEAL December 8, 1926 | wasted upon problems which are not fundamental...

...Americawshe is no longer the United States---is not the "colossus" to be dreaded...

...Standing committed to citizen ownership of the soil--the small property-- she may yet bend her influence in that direction, sup- porting the Indian's inclination toward the same end ll= and the Mestizo's inclination toward small industry...

...but has not environment also its effects ? While intermarriage between widely divergent types momentarily produces a blended tradition, yet Nilsson shows that it may also mean the birth of a new race, with a culture dis- tinctly its own, as witness the case of modern Italy...

...If that be true, then it means that the bottom has been reached, and soon or late an upward course may be struck slowly if untried theories hold sway and foreign disfavor is courted~rapidly if the star of a master, a builder, should illumine the dark firmament --always a possibility, if not a probability, in time of chaos...

...As part of the program, agricultural schools have been established, in which modern farming is taught...

...Calles and Obregon claim the government's purpose to be the elimination of bandits: so did Diaz...

...Heredity may not be disparaged, of course...

...Independence put an end to foreign political power, but not to foreign influence, either social or economic, fortified as it was and is by ethnic penetration...

...what is its cause...

...Mexico is part of this modern western world, the neighbor of an industrial power of the first order...

...try can function...

...Sympathetically, the leaders of the Madero, Car-ranza, and Obregon revolutions listened to the In-dian's cry for land...

...More imme- diately, the foreign foe with which Mexico is now at close grips is socialism, communism...

...The basis of all economic life...

...A dogged oriental patience was his sword, which he wielded with such under-standing at home and such good grace abroad that posterity in his native land now worships in the halo of his genius, while a western world looks admiringly on...

...buying abroad those articles of machine manufacture which other nations could furnish more economically, in ex- change for those articles, the product of her native skill, which other nations did not produce, Mexico could in time become economically free by the accumu- lation of a surplus sufficient to discharge her obliga- tions...

...The Occident, as Spengler ably depicts, has entered the stage of civilization, shedding its culture for city in- dustrial life...

...Chaos is Mexico's one great enemy...

...nor can she hope to compete with other nations in agriculture...

...Precisely because (being somewhat oriental herself I) the Catholic Church is the only stabilizing influence outside the government...

...Must not Mexico develop the in- stlnct to acquire and possess, to accumulate and con-serve, before she can make even a beginning toward real independence...

...it is but a development--an unfold- ing with which one must live in harmony...

...This, therefore, is an epoch of industrial dynamics, wherein captains of industry and commerce and masters of finance dominate all human activity...

...And hideous is the monster disease and death which now stalks through the land...

...Time and that patience which is the Indian's heritage are Mexico's strong allies...

...crust which surfaces its blue waters...

...Socialist and communist join in deriding the industrial order...

...But machine methods ar.e fostered, which, while they may be practicable in other countries, are not suited to Mexico, as experience has proved and is proving...

...W HAT, however, presents a problem of the first magnitude is the fact that Mexico, which for three centuries was ruled by western stand- ards and by white men, and which for the last hun- dred years has drifted under the leadership of mixed men with like standards, is today a cultureless but basically oriental nation in a western world...

...Upon the boggy turf of the near future one may not venture far...

...NEW IDEAS AND OLD SCHOLASTICISM By ERNEST SUTHERLAND BATES D URING the last fifty years, philosophy has presented a variegated, not to say confused, spectacle...

...But what is banditry...

...Keppler, the first of which appeared in The Commonweal of December x.--The Editors...

...Such a philosophy has been advanced by neo-scholasticism during the last half-century with steadily increasing success...

...because she has a world out- look, she wields a power which cannot and should not be ignored in any program involving the upbuilding of the people...

...Mercier under- stood perfectly that it was no part of the Pope's in- tention or of true philosophic thinking to attempt to revive Thomism in its original form with its incrusta- tions of mediaeval science...

...It does seem that the memory of revolution is yet too vivid for another to happen, and there is not the vitality for such an ordeal...

...with the result that the Diaz r6gime had strong credit abroad, whereas the revolu- tionary r6gimes have inspired none...

...Further land acquisition by Miens may be halted, but lawfully acquired holdings cannot be disturbed...

...And what if Mexico's scattered energies should gradually draw themselves around some master--a master who would give her not only policy, but destiny as well-- a policy and a destiny which would enable her to live harmoniously amid western civilization but without succumbing to it...

...It is upon that stage Mexico is attempting to recover what she has lost to the West...

...Saint Thomas was, of course, limited in his knowledge of scientific facts by the conditions of his era...

...With the next presidential election less than two years distant...

...The Church would not now oppose a Ju~.rez, as she did half a century ago...

...Once-productive estates have been subdivided, and many of them now lie idle...

...Mexico can-not hope to compete with industrial nations, not even in her own markets...

...Broady, then, the case of Mexico resolves itself into a ca: e of Occident versus Orient, but with the ad- dition of a majority element of Mestizos...

...In the last hundred years both have materially increased their numbers, notwithstanding an exceedingly un-favorable environment...

...with the leaders of the agrarian and labor groups oppos-ing each other, the immediate future does not look bright...

...Polarity, action and reaction, cause and effect, are the great forces which rule, not only man's material being, but his intellect as well...

...As a result, a special chair for the study of Saint Thomas was established at the University of Louvain in 1882 and entrusted to the young professor of philosophy who later became Cardinal Mercier...

...On the other hand, both the Pope and the young professor, who must share be-tween them the honor of founding neo-scholasticism, were inspired by the belief in the fundamental truth of Saint Thomas's metaphysics and the further faith that a thing once true is always true...

...Now the Yaquis are on the warpath, and, oddly, a revolutionary gov- ernment is proceeding to subdue them (proposing the use of aeroplanes) exactly as Diaz would have done...

...Events taking such a course, the future does not look so dark...

...Unaided he cannot return, so meanwhile he must play true to formmtrue to the picture of Thompson's surging Indian sea, periodically convulsing to throw oq the whit...

...Banditry is merely a symptom of a long- standing social condition...

...The birth of the movement must be traced to the famous en-cyclical Aeterni Patris of Pope Leo XIII in 1879, calling the attention of the Catholic world to the value of scholasticism in general and the work of Saint Thomas Aquinas in particular, at that time neglected and ill-understood even in Catholic seminaries...

...Landless, the In- dian plays the pathetic part of the "white man's bur- den" in populated centres, or else takes himself to the mountain fastnesses in vain attempt to redeem his once- glorious past...