Page:Hands off Mexico.djvu/29

 Or, if we must have a war over Mexico of some kind, why not fight to save Mexico from aggression by others, instead of fighting a war of aggression upon her ourselves? "If we don't do it, England will!" This is reminiscent of the swindler's stereotyped defense: "If I didn't get the sucker's money, somebody else would." Behold the ancient and venerable document, the Monroe Doctrine, brought out of its closet and paraded before us, to what end? Not to preserve the independence of Latin American States, but to destroy it; not to prevent the absorption of Latin America by a foreign power, but to facilitate it — and ourselves that foreign power!

The only escape from this absurdity is through a confession that our "unselfish protection" is a monster hypocrisy, that the Monroe Doctrine is not for our neighbors, but for ourselves. "But the Monroe Doctrine at least requires us to compel Mexico to observe her international obligations."

What obligations? The obligation to pay her external debts? The Mexican Government has not repudiated any part of its foreign debt. It has only asked its creditors to be patient, just as England, France and other debtors of Wall Street are doing. The Mexican Government has repeatedly announced its determination to pay all legitimate foreign claims of whatever kind. A number of our American States have repudiated their foreign debts at various times, and the British bondholders are still unpaid. Would we consent to a British military occupation of the United States for the collection of these debts? What other international obligations are specified? There is no other obligation except the obligation to apply the laws of the land without discrimination against foreigners. This obligation is lived up to. In fact, one of the bitterest complaints against Carranza is that he refuses to accord foreigners special privileges, as the Old Regime had done. Even should Mexico repudiate her foreign debts and enter upon a general policy of nationalization of private property, we would not be justified in attacking her. In using force to compel Mexico to observe her international obligations we would be violating one of our international obligations, an obligation greater than any Mexico would infringe—the obligation to respect Mexican sovereignty.