World Affairs Institute The Causes of the Recent Mexican Conflict Source: The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920), Vol. 73, No. 7 (JULY, 1911), pp. 145-146 Published by: World Affairs Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20666226 . Accessed: 17/05/2014 15:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . World Affairs Institute and Heldref Publications are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920). http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 195.78.108.144 on Sat, 17 May 2014 15:18:43 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
Transcript
World Affairs Institute
The Causes of the Recent Mexican ConflictSource: The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920), Vol. 73, No. 7 (JULY, 1911), pp. 145-146Published by: World Affairs InstituteStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20666226 .
Accessed: 17/05/2014 15:18
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
.
World Affairs Institute and Heldref Publications are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extendaccess to The Advocate of Peace (1894-1920).
http://www.jstor.org
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Entered as Second-Class Matter June 1, 1911, at the Post Office at Washington, D. C, under the Act of July 16, 1894.
Make all checks payable to the American Peace Society. To personal checks on Western and Southern banks add ten cents for collecting.
CONTENTS. page
Editorials. 145-146
Causes of the Recent Mexican Conflict?The Arbitra
tion Treaty?Seventeenth Mohonk Arbitration Con
ference?Honduras and Nicaragua Loan Conventions.
Editorial Notes. 147-149
President Taft to George V.?The Rome Peace Con
gress?The Universal Races Congress?Death of Dr.
De Forest?Memorial to Sir Randal Cremer.
What the Peace Organizations are Doing. 149
Brevities. 150
General Articles :
What has Come to Pass in Sixteen Years. Albert K. Smiley. 151
The Carnegie Endowment and International Peace. President Nicholas Murray Butler. 152
Underlying Principles which should govern Appoint ment of Judges of the International Court. Thomas Raeourn White . 157
Platform of the Seventeenth Mohonk Arbitration Con ference . 159
The True Meaning of Dollar Diplomacy. Huntington Wilson . 160
Geographic Delimitation of International Boundaries as related to Peace. Charles Yates. 161
The Chicago Office. Charles E. Beals. 163
Correspondence?The Buffalo Peace Society. 164
New Books . 164
International Arbitration and Peace Lecture Bureau. 165
The Causes of the Recent Mexican
Conflict.
The Mexican "war," now happily closed, at least
for the time, has puzzled many of us. It is difficult to believe that the chief cause of it was, as so many seem to assume, the long continuance in the presi
dency of Porfirio Diaz and the despotism now de
clared to have been exercised by him. Diaz was
until quite recently generally reputed to be a states
man of a high order, who had done a great deal
for the development and prosperity of his country. He was term after term re-elected to the presidency, we were told, because he was the one man in Mexico
whom the people believed capable of administering the affairs of the Republic in a wise and satisfactory
manner. One wonders why the people did not
choose another man at the last election, if the old
president had become really obnoxious to them.
They certainly had it in their power to do so if they had exercised their right to vote, which they seem
usually to neglect.
President Diaz, of course, remained too long in
office, and it may be conceded that the dissatisfac tion arising therefrom was one of the causes of the recent uprising; or, at any rate, that it furnished the excuse therefor. Mexico (and every other re
public) ought to make it impossible for such a thing to occur again, if she desires to have hereafter undis turbed peace within her borders. In a government of the people, if it is expected to be stable and peace ful, everything resembling absolutism should be ex cluded. Absolutism and peace, real and abiding peace, are mutually exclusive.
What effects investments of citizens of this country and others in Mexico had in bringing on the up rising it is not easy to figure out. It has been re
ported that many Mexicans have been deeply dis affected by the manner in which foreign capitalists have been getting control of all the best sources of wealth in their country, and the way in which Presi dent Diaz, with much favoritism, dealt out con cessions to them. This disaffection was perhaps
more serious than was generally known, and it seems to have been on this account that the United States army of 20,000 men was mobilized by President Taft on the border, with a view of protecting the lives and property of our citizens beyond the border in case of possible attacks upon them, and not with the remotest view of any aggression upon Mexican
territory. It is practically certain that it was the selfish and inconsiderate conduct of these Diaz favored exploiters of Mexican resources, rather than the mere fact that the investments were from abroad, that was responsible, in considerable measure, for the insurrection. If it is proper for our government to hasten to protect the lives and property of its citi zens engaged in enterprises in foreign countries, ought it not to try to find some way of teaching these wealth-hunters to conduct themselves at all times like
gentlemen, with regard for the rights and national characteristics of the native citizens of the country? The interests of peace certainly suggest this, and
statesmanship may possibly find a new and useful field in this direction by and by.
Finally, a part of the cause of the Mexican "war" is undoubtedly to be found in the spirit of selfish ambition and adventure which, though now rapidly passing away, has played such an unfortunate part in the past in* so many of the Latin-American re
publics. The leaders of the Mexican insurrectos have given not a few evidences that this spirit is not yet wholly dead in Mexico, as we had all hoped. For this cause of war, civil or international, there is no cur? but time and the educative and moralizing effects of the many forces which are fast eliminating
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from our civilization the depraved dispositions and false notions of which war is the natural expression.
It is gratifying to know that the conflict in Mexico is ended, that the killing and maiming of men has
ceased, that the insurrectos have laid down their
arms, that the United States army has been with drawn from the border, and that the government of our neighbor republic is being reshaped, let us hope thoroughly this time, so as to make it more in
harmony with modern conditions and less likely ever again to experience the disorganization and rav
ages of war.
The Arbitration Treaty.
Just as we are completing this issue the reply of the
British government to the proposal for a treaty of un
limited arbitration has been received at Washington. The British answer suggests some amendments, but they do not affect the general principle of President TaftV
original proposal. The reply indicates a willingness 071
the part of the British government to sign, at the ear
liest possible moment, a treaty on the lines laid down
in the draft submitted by our State Department. Presi
dent Taft will be able, it is now thought, to submit a
completed treaty to the Senate for its approval before
the close of the present session of Congress. When
the treaty is sent in all supporters of it should imme
diately in some form, either by letter or telegram or
resolutions adopted by public gatherings, let the Sena
tors from their State know that the matter is urgent and that ratification should take place with the least
possible delay. Do not neglect this duty. It is one of
the greatest that you were ever called upon to perform. The Senators will be glad to hear from their constit
uents.
The Seventeenth Mohonk Arbitration Conference.
The Conference on International Arbitration, held at Lake Mohonk the last week of May this year, the seven teenth in the remarkable series held at that place, came near being a regular jubilee. The spirit of jubilee was
hovering over the top of the mountain, and the more than three hundred men and women gathered there, nearly all prominent in their various fields of service, though not much given ordinarily to sentimental demon
strations, were evidently strongly moved by the unusual circumstances under which they gathered.
The progress during the year of the cause in whose behalf the Conferences have been held was admirably set forth by Mr. Smiley in the address (given on another
page) with which he opened the meetings. The subject which stirred the enthusiasm of the members more than
any other was that of the proposed treaty of unlimited arbitration with Great Britain, and possibly two or three other powers. Every allusion to this coming treaty, and to the splendid part which President Taft and our De
partment of State have taken in initiating it, was re ceived with applause, and it was the subject of much remark and gratulation among the groups which gath ered in the corridors of the Mountain House or on the walks and drives. We have never before seen Mohonk, always strong in faith and hope, so certain as it was this year that its high aim is to be realized in the not far future.
This was the characteristic feature of the Conference, as it has been that of all other peace gatherings in recent months. But other happenings of the year were not overlooked. The princely gift of ten millions of dollars as a Peace Endowment by Andrew Carnegie, the com
pletion of the million-dollar Foundation of Edwin
Ginn, the Newfoundland Fisheries Arbitration, the
practically united voice of the chancelries of the nations for greater international friendship and the pacific set tlement of disputes, the ever louder voice of the people in all lands against war and the burdens of armaments, the multiplication of organizations and agencies for the
promotion of the principles and policies of peace?all these wove themselves into the daily discussions and added to the spirit of hope and assurance which domi nated the Conference.
The speaking in the meetings was not on the whole better than that in several former Mohonk Conferences, though there were a few exceptionally fine papers; some of which we expect to publish in this and subsequent issues of the Advocate of Peace.
The Conference was this year more than ordinarily international in its make-up. Three distinguished Eng lishmen, the Yery Eev. the Dean of Worcester, Eev. Dr. John Clifford, and J. Allen Baker, M. P., leading peace workers in Great Britain, were welcomed with peculiar cordiality, because of the pending arbitration treaty, and by their speeches and counsels in committee did
much to make the Conference what it was. From Can ada also there were some strong men?ex-Chief Justice Sir William Muloch, President of the Canadian Peace
Society; Hon. McKenzie King, Minister of Labor, and others?whose presence deepened the interest of the members of the Conference in the approaching celebra tion of the completion of one hundred years of peace between Great Britain and the United States. Even more welcome, if possible, was Senator La Fontaine, of
Belgium, President of the International Peace Bureau at Berne, and the Baron d'Estournelles de Constant, of France, who was just finishing up his remarkable lec ture tour through all parts of the country.
The spirit and outlook of the Conference were well summed up in the excellent platform adopted at the last session, which we print in full on another page.
The Honduras and Nicaragua Loan Conventions.
After considerable investigation of the circumstances
underlying the negotiation of the Honduras and Nica
ragua Loan Conventions, now before the Senate, and
the purpose sought to be reached by them, we can see
no reason to fear any evil results from the arrangements between our Government and the two Central American
republics for which these conventions provide.
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