Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/204

188 The condition of the Mexican population, as indicated in the matter quoted from various sources, has resulted in a great reduction of food production in that country. This reduction has been so great that it was estimated about the beginning of 1918 that the United States would have to permit at least a hundred million bushels of corn to be shipped into Mexico to avert threatened starvation. In addition to this the burden of the allies who were fighting Germany was increased by the fact that at least a billion and a half dollars of the money of the United States and her allies invested in Mexico has had its earning power destroyed by confiscations and other lawless exactions of the Carranza government. Under normal conditions these Mexican investments had a very high earning power which could have borne a not inconsiderable share of the burdens of war. It must have been a matter of distinct gratification to Carranza and his pro-German associates that they were able to contribute so much to the aid of Germany and the burdens of her opponents.

But at last some, at least, of the Mexicans have awakened to an uncomfortable realization that a day of reckoning is at hand. One significant indication of this is to be found in an article published in A.B.C., of Mexico City, December 14, 1918. To make the matter more interesting the article has been brought to the attention of the State