Events in Mexico
EVENTS IN MEXICO THE Mexicans elected Pascual Ortiz-Rubio. It was long since perfectly obvious they would. It is vastly more difficult to be an anti-administration candidate in the land of...
...and though it is feared he may be too subservient to the wishes of his predecessors, there is good reason to believe that they-notably Calles-plan to strengthen the powers of the legislature and to diminish the autocracy of the executive...
...The interesting point is, however, that the country has witnessed a real political campaign, argued out with what must on the whole be described as a minimum of violence and bloodshed...
...We do not conceal the fact that Senor Vasconcelos has a very positive appeal for us...
...In at least five instances Vasconcelos's followers were set upon and made to fight pitched battles...
...It has been able to quell armed opposition and to maintain its grip upon the centres of authority...
...In any case, the condition of Mexico is tragically serious...
...Coming from a good family he ought to find it easier than former Presidents have to utilize the services of professional men...
...Certainly Ortiz-Rubio is not a first-rate thinker or a magnetic personality of the Vasconcelos stamp...
...The "administration" candidate toured the country in private cars supplied by the government...
...Well we hope it has really been a mile-stone and that the government of the United States will be able, in a measure, to preserve the achievement as a cardinal principle of its own activity in Mexico...
...It must pin its faith to the progress of the country toward democratic security...
...Senor Ortiz-Rubio is an engineer by profession and has had many years of practical experience...
...But signs have not been wanting that the match to ignite another rebellion is in the hands of disaffected politicians...
...All government contains an element of reliance upon conquest...
...A revolutionary movement set up a constitution and a power...
...It is vastly more difficult to be an anti-administration candidate in the land of Montezuma than it is to be an anti-Republican candidate in Connecticut...
...The voting booths were, most news accounts agree, controlled with the same partizan fervor which once prevailed in squatter Kansas...
...In so far as economics are concerned, the country faces three tremendous problems: how to get out of the impasse to which a succession of muddle-headed agrarian policies have led...
...In some places, local officials have virtually refused to abide by the settlement effected by Archbishop Ruiz, and so far the federal authorities have not been able to interfere successfully...
...This truth seems to have been fully comprehended by those who are guiding Catholic opinion in Mexico...
...But it has not succeeded in ruling well...
...He declared, for instance, that his government would abide by the decision to end the war against religion...
...The other problems also seem quandaries to the great majority of Mexican politicians...
...as the transition from personal rule to institutional civil government...
...as marking the decline of political apathy and the growth of social action in contrast to the 'atomism' which has characterized our organization...
...It is sincerely to be hoped that the followers of Vasconcelos will realize this fact and plan for the next election rather than for the next rebellion...
...But the last-named man is really an educator...
...He assured all that Mexico's national assembly would make room for duly elected representatives, even if those representatives bore a clerical stamp...
...He is the author of a history of Michoacan, his native state, and has written several other books...
...For weeks Jose Vasconcelos has charged admission to his political addresses, has discussed the national situation with a practical idealism which reminds one not a little of Gandhi, and has seen women kneel to kiss his feet-after the customary Mexican fashion-in order to express their gratitude for revived hopes...
...But the day when the Church might hope to seek its rights through revolution is manifestly over...
...What is needed first of all is safe and easy credit...
...Without him there could have been no such campaign...
...In Mexico there has as yet been no progress beyond the crude early stages of conquest...
...In several respects he calls to mind the great figure of Jefferson and his courage has been exceptional...
...how to manage the railroads, oil fields and other industries or natural resources ; and how to extricate itself from an enormous mass of fiscal difficulties...
...He may ultimately do a great deal to build up Mexican public opinion...
...This is true not only with regard to any individual state but also with regard to the republic as a whole...
...But everybody appears to realize that Vasconcelos's insistence upon management must be substituted for the old and easy confidence in slogans...
...The second might oust Ortiz-Rubio, but under no conceivable circumstances would it ever bring Mexico even a single step nearer to orderly political life...
...The Indian population vacillates from a position of subserviency to graft-seeking officials, to a state of false importance in an army recruited solely on a mercenary basis...
...Afterward their object would, of course, be to rule so justly that no opposition would think of changing the form of government-the constitution-although they might well hope to effect peaceful revolutions through a shift of personnel...
...The next requirement is a corps of seasoned agricultural engineers equipped with something like authority...
...Though not a brilliant man, he has excellent qualities far too seldom found in prominent Mexican politicians...
...Grant all these irregularities and more, however, and you have not destroyed the value of the campaign...
...The clergy have definitively adopted a policy of remaining aloof from all political controversy...
...So far, however, little that seems promising has been said regarding the question...
...After having fought with the revolutionary army, he held several important offices and was finally appointed ambassador to Brazil...
...If he weakens and tries to foment rebellion, however, his usefulness will be at an end...
...If the administration candidate has meanwhile seemed relatively staid and non-committal, it must be admitted that he said at least a few things of moment...
...It is admitted that many aspects of the religious question await proper settlement...
...as reflecting the tradition of the Spanish-American prophet-statesmen under whose influence Vasconcelos has come...
...One of his supporters has written: "From a sociological point of view the campaign has been very interesting as a mile-stone in the integration of a new social structure...
...Vasconcelos is right, very probably, in feeling that he did not receive a square deal...
...Just how far important civic matters have been referred to the people for decision is, however, another question...
...The ranking ecclesiastic in the state of Coahuila declared : "There is absolutely no truth in the report that we have given support to the anti-revolutionist candidate...
...Mexico cannot indefinitely continue to quarrel over its arable lands and to neglect irrigation projects, if it wishes to keep from starving...
...Its racial and social problems are far more acute than they were thirty years ago...
...The campaign is, therefore, a hopeful sign that some development in the way of democratic order is possible in Mexico...
...The President-elect seems to foreshadow an advance...
...This failure is due partly to certain weaknesses inherent in the movement itself, and partly to the fact that "peaceful revolution" through the clash of party opinion has remained impossible...
...When Jefferson declared that the state derives its power from the consent of the governed, he obviously meant that a nation was necessarily formed by those who were strong enough and sufficiently organized to establish it...
Vol. 11 • December 1929 • No. 5
