Armistice in Mexico

...for the solution of the fundamental problems that still face the Church and the state is as yet far away...

...and only the continuance of the spirit which led to this solution can bring about the final settlement...

...Jessie E. Wdliams 275 Week by Week...

...The Mexican Church is facing a truly gigantic task of rehabilitation...

...THE COMMONWEAL A Weekly Review of Literature, The Arts, and Public Aftairs...

...Surely American Catholics should aid Mexico to maintain the Faith that is its soul...

...American Protestants give millions of dollars to their proselytizers in Mexico...

...Both Great Britain and the United States have set their hearts upon threshing this matter Another out satisfactorily...

...She described it Give the as enough to try out a few ideas on the Job to an public, to pay for a limited edition of Agency some especially attractive poster and (what is more important) to discern what could be done with teachers...

...faith, hope and charity inspire them...

...Others felt that citizens ought to bear in mind that the several states remain sovereign with regard to schools, and that such right as the federal government possesses to flood them with propaganda is solely a matter of good-will...

...which agreement is itself "the best guarantee that we have reached an era of conciliation which will lead, with God's help, to true peace...

...It was, of course, in no spirit of carping or pessimism that we pointed out these facts...

...That the Mexican government was obliged to change its policy because it had become quite evident that it was impossible to crush the Church need not prevent us from recognizing, as Archbishop Ruiz so cordially does, that it is facing the logical consequences of that defeat sensibly...

...John Carter 273 Marshall, R. Ellsworth Larsson, John T. Slattery 278 Pubhshed weekly and copyrighted 1929, m the Umted States by the Calvert Pubhshmg Corporation, Grand Central Terminal, New York, N Y Unttea States' $5 00, Foretgn $6 00, Canada $5 50 Smgle Copies $10 ARMISTICE I N EXPRESSING, as we did in our last number, The Commonweal s thankfulness and gratitude that the Church and the government in Mexico have reached an accord, we went on to remark that none of the major issues has been met, and that it is impera- tive to judge what has been accomplished realistically and impartially...

...Reams of comment followed, emphasizing both qualities...

...William Collins 269 Communications...

...263 Antipodal (verse...

...At any rate, the voice of Miss Sutter has been drowned out, even the pam- phlets seem in danger of destruction and virtually only the $5o,ooo remains...

...What has been so splen- didly accomplished may indeed be compared to the armistice that brought the world war to an end, although not to a settlement...

...Thomas J. Malone 276 Trade-Union Problems...

...It must reorganize its shat- tered services, spiritual and educational and chari-table, to its people, and its people are desperately poor...

...It has no revenues, no income, no property...

...H. James Rockel 270 Books . . . . Boyd-Carpenter, Ireland Remembers...

...And even as that great event swept the whole world in a wave of joy and gratitude, so the recent news from Mexico sent a similar wave of emotion through the hearts and minds of all those who possess even a slight knowledge of the horrible conditions which have prevailed in our sister nation to the south for so many years...

...WEEK BY WEEK N 'AVIES will form a major item in the world's con- versation some time during the fall...

...The keynote of his message is struck when he calls upon the Mexican Catholics "to accept with all their hearts this solution...

...Though nothing spectacular has happened to navies themselves during the past year, the world has listened to England voicing an emphatic opinion that "armament racing" must cease...

...It is good to remember that our own bishops' pastoral letter on Mexico was by far the most helpful utterance on the subject of the persecution of the Church issued from any source...

...The last naval conference did almost as much damage as a handful of other conferences had managed to do good...

...Indeed, a prohibi- tion pamphlet was reported as averring that "the gov- ernment needs the co6peration of every teacher from Maine to California...

...No doubt the friends of Senator Jones could, it was felt, sequestrate sufficient money to deluge every school with propaganda and, having given the impression that no other point of view was patriotic, might en-dear the Eighteenth Amendment to assorted millions of youngsters...

...For years past the general public has heard scarcely anything other than governmental propaganda...

...and though the final Chat about handshake endorsing a parley has not Navies yet been photographed, matters have gone far enough to justify full confi- dence...

...FOR Miss Anna Sutter, director of prohibition statis- tics, the $50,000 fund recently voted by Congress, was "only a starter...

...Messrs...

...Nevertheless, the apostolic delegate clearly sees that without a spirit of true faith and hope this first impasse could not have been solved...

...MacDonald and Dawes seem to be interested in ar- ranging a session in which only a minor part will be assigned to nautical experts...

...Certainly it can be said that the Catholic leaders in Mexico have boldly and firmly laid down the lines on which a reasonable peace can be attained...

...Since the United States has already expressed its complete willingness to partici-pate either way, the outcome hinges upon Premier Mac- Donald's maneuvers with other countries and with the League of Nations...

...One draws the conclusion that the really curious aspect of the incident is the detail that, in order to "promote the enforcement" of a law, it was found expedient to address the generation which...

...And the press can only work effectively toward this end by fulfilling its primary function, which has been sorely neglected during the last few years, so far as Mexico is concerned...

...Volume X New York, Wednesday, July 10, 1929 Number Io EDITORIAL BOARD EDITORIAL COUNCIL MICHAEL WILLIAMS, Editor CARLTON J H HAYES GEORGE N. SHUSTER, Managing Editor T LAWRASON RIGGS MARY KOLARS, Assistant Editor Q RICHARD DANA SKINNER JOHN F. McCoRMICK, Business Manager JAM~S J. WALSa TABLE OF CONTENTS Armistice in Mexico...

...These lines express things that belong to the very essence of the Christian religion...

...That the apostolic delegate, Archbishop THE COMMONWEAL July xo, x929 ,ll .9 Ruiz, himself a Mexican and therefore keenly aware of the sufferings of his fellow-Catholics in Mexico, and charged as well by the Pope with the chief responsibility for the successful issue of the delicate and difficult negotiations now proceeding, should have so promptly and emphatically expressed these principles Is clear proof of the splendid spirit animating him and his fellows among the Mexican clergy...

...Its moral force out- weighed the specious propaganda of Chapultepec, although the latter was so much more in evidence...

...The Archbishop, of course, refers to the solution of the impasse which for years has kept Catholic Mexico on the rack of martyrdom...

...Moreover, true charity breathed through the apos- tolic delegate's words expressly recognizing that "the government has given proofs of its sincere good-will in arriving at this agreement...

...What really counts is whether preparations are being made to obstruct another fiasco...

...We make bold to suggest a further service to Mexico's tormented and impoverished Church which might well be considered by our Catholic leaders in the United States: namely, the raising of a Mexican relief fund by popular subscription among American Catholics...

...It is to be hoped that the comparison will hold all the way through, and that the Mexican armistice will be the gate to a really lasting adjustment of the conditions IN MEXICO produced by the war on the Church which has been maintained, with only one lengthy interval--that of the dictatorship of Diaz--for more than a century...

...Summer Plower (verse...

...Eleanor Shipley Duckett 275 Sympathetic Rheumatism...

...The campaign thus outlined was intrinsically funny but potentially serious...

...268 The First Declaration...

...by relating the facts about Mexico, and by giving at least as much and as fair attention to actualities concerning the Catholic side of the controversy as they do to the government case...

...We believe this will be obtained more readily if the first conference is tri- partite, leaving the special problems of France and Italy for a later meeting...

...This is easier to talk about than to carry through, and a great deal depends upon the consent of all the participants...

...Constantine P. Curran 271 Mary Kolars, Grenvdle Vernon, David John Our Orphaned Investments...

...In no way could the prosperous and fortunate Catholics of the United States help more effectively to make the armistice lead to permanent peace in Mexico than by proving their charity and good-wiU by means of this aid to their brothers in the Faith...

...264 The Saint of Tours...

...We then alluded to some of the fundamental questions which still must be solved be- fore anything resembling permanent peace and liberty can be achieved south of the Rio Grande...

...We believe the Catholics north of the Rio Grande should also display, in a practical fashion, the spirit of good-will and charity invoked by Archbishop Ruiz...

...Meanwhile, The Commonweal believes it to be nothing less than a duty for the press, which has so heartily welcomed the armistice, to exert its best efforts to aid in bringing about that final religious peace without which there can be no industrial or economic or social peace and progress in Mexico...