Green Light

Swarthy servants shined up gleaming swords one night last week in Mexico City, next morning laid out the heavily gold-braided uniforms of army commanders of Mexico's military districts. These satraps had been summoned by General Lazaro Cardenas, expropriating President of Mexico, to back him visibly with their presence when he opened the Mexican Congress last week. As is their jealously guarded privilege, the Congressmen each wore a pistol. General Cardenas was in mufti, for he is the "New Deal" hero of underprivileged Mexicans. All Mexico was tense with anticipation, for New Dealer Cardenas had announced that he would read "the most important message to Congress delivered since my inauguration."

In the eyes of Mexicans, their popular President had just been figuratively flashed a green light by Washington to go ahead with his seizure of foreign properties in Mexico without compensation. Every Mexican remembers the red light which President Woodrow Wilson had flashed on April 21, 1914 from the fighting top of the U. S. S. Arkansas. This signal started the bombardment of Veracruz by ships of U. S. Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels and within a few months unacceptable President Huerta was forced to resign.

Last week's figurative green light was flashed by Josephus Daniels, now U. S. Ambassador to Mexico and an admiring friend of New Dealer Cardenas. The envoy of an unnamed third State called on Ambassador Daniels, warned him that President Cardenas was almost sure to make a speech rejecting the note in which Secretary Hull recently demanded immediate compensation for the seized properties, and offered to join the U. S. Ambassador in snubbing Orator Cardenas by staying away from his speech. Mr. Daniels refused this offer, genially let it be known that, since he understands hardly a word of Spanish, he wouldn't know what President Cardenas was saying anyhow, and turned up beaming in the diplomatic box.

Although Lazaro Cardenas is a poor, mumbling speaker without Latin fire or grace, the General brought Mexico's pistol-toting Congressmen to their feet shouting "Viva!" again & again last week. They saw at once that with almost every word President Cardenas was baiting Secretary Hull. Mr. Hull had laid down in diplomatic terms that it is a violation of international law for Mexico to expropriate without immediate compensation. General Cardenas laid down in non-diplomatic terms that what Mexico has done is "for the greatest good of the greatest number of people," and said that in international law there is no such principle as was cited by the U. S. note.* The request of Mr. Hull that Mexico at least make no further seizures of property, pending arbitration, was rejected by President Cardenas and he further rejected the "principle of arbitration" in this case.

As a clincher, the Mexican President said he had just as much right to take the lands of the rich as other presidents (like Neighbor Roosevelt) have had to forbid their people to possess gold coins.

Franklin Roosevelt and Lazaro Cardenas are "two great statesmen who have appeared to extend a hand to labor," keynoted John L. Lewis at the opening session in Mexico City this week of the Latin American Labor Congress. "Mexico today is going forward in the same way as the United States because it has a great leader who believes in the rights and welfare of the common people!"

*To reply to a diplomatic note by a public speech is regarded in most of the world's chancelleries as a great crudity.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.