Insulted

The spectacle last week of two statesmen corresponding by public statement was one that focussed considerable attention.

U. S. Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg issued a warning statement from the State Department in Washington to the Mexican Government (see NATIONAL AFFAIRS).

President Plutarco Elias Calles of Mexico sent an answer to the Mexican Embassy at Washington, which was distributed to the press and was published simultaneously in the U. S. and Mexico.

President Calles was "insulted." He said he saw a threat to the sovereignty of Mexico in the U. S. statement. He dismissed the allegations of injustices to Americans by stating that the best proof of Mexico's good intentions was the establishment two years ago of joint commissions to settle claims for indemnities. He scored the U. S. Secretary for saying in effect that the U. S. had the greatest interest in maintaining order in Mexico, while at the same time taking advantage of revolutionary rumors to threaten that the U. S. would cease to have that interest unless American lives and interests were fully protected. This is, said the President, "a threat to the sovereignty of Mexico that she cannot overlook and regrets with all energy because she does not accord to any foreign country the right to intervene in any form in her domestic affairs, nor is she disposed to subordinate her international relations to the exigencies of another country."

He recalled, moreover, that U. S. Ambassador Sheffield had popularly been given credit for protecting American and foreign interests; and, if this was so, he had no right to attack Mexico for not protecting those interests.

He concluded: "I declare that my Government, conscious of the obligations imposed by international law, is determined to comply with them, but in no way it shall admit that a Government of any nation may pretend to create a privileged situation for its nationals in the country, nor shall it easier accept any foreign interference contrary to the rights of sovereignty of Mexico.