Page:Mexico's dilemma.djvu/146

122 a church and palace inside out. Saunter through these places to-day and you will find church ornaments, silverware, jewels, Chinese silks, Japanese idols, church bells and bishops' gowns for sale. You can purchase pieces of the silk wall paper with which Emperor Maximilian covered the walls of the National Palace when he ruled the Mexican people. Some day Mexico will be a rich field for collectors.

This is part of the melodrama; but the government has already interfered in this business. There is an embargo on the shipment of any church property out of the country.

In London, Paris, Washington and Rome there are, on file with the various governments, claims of their citizens against the Republic of Mexico. Until the Mexican Government determines upon a definite policy in dealing with foreign interests, and in settling these claims, recognition of the de jure government will be withheld. President Carranza has been informed that some day there will be a reckoning; and this is one of the chief problems he is trying to solve.

Interwoven with this question, like a black thread in a piece of white cloth, is the question of neutrality. To-day Mexico is not even a passive belligerent; and the hope of the United States Government, judged by its policy, is that Mexico will adjust her internal affairs so that it will not be necessary for America to divert her war energies from the European battlefields. One day,