Mexican Defi

"Yes, gentlemen, the Government will continue to carry out its full program without heeding the cries of the priests. Nothing worries me in all their maneuvers. Nothing interests me in these intrigues. I declare solemnly before the entire nation that the energy that the Government is developing and that it will continue to develop will not bend before any pressure, before any threat, and as long as I am President the constitution of 1917 will be effective."

Thus spoke President Plutareo Elias Calles of Mexico, publicly, at Mexico City, before a conference of Mexican labor organizations, amid stentorian applause.

Meanwhile "the cries of the [foreign] priests" and nuns who are being deported from Mexico (see RELIGION, p. 21) were loud. Throughout the week it was apparent that the clauses of the Mexican constitution which provide that only Mexicans may give religious instruction in Mexico are again being sharply enforced, after a momentary period of hesitancy engendered by strong U. S. British and Spanish protests (TIME, March 1).

At Washington, Secretary Kellogg was busy drafting a new note, to form part of the now formidable mass of secret correspondence which has recently been exchanged between the Coolidge and Calles administrations, respecting the provisions of the Mexican constitution which seriously curtail the activities of foreigners in Mexico with respect to religion, land tenure and oil concessions.