Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/248

232 the Platt Amendment. I had hoped that when the so called "A. B. C. Conference" of the diplomatic representatives of Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Guatemala and this country met to consider the fate of Mexico it would by concert of action originate some such movement to rescue twelve millions of people from a condition which has for so long been a disgrace to our common humanity. I had hoped that the peons would be given that chance in life which every man should have but which they never have had, and never will have at the hands of the governing element of their country if we are "to use the history of the past as a prophecy of the future." In saying this I realize fully that I am challenging the convictions, or the prejudices, of a great many people. For myself I can say that I am expressing a conclusion which I have endeavoured to avoid but which a conscientious study of Mexican history and conditions, with the sole desire of arriving at the truth, has forced upon me.

If those who resent this conclusion would be better satisfied by continuing conditions in Mexico that have produced, and are producing, so much agony to so many human beings, they probably will be gratified, for there does not now appear to be any prospect of the sort of intervention in Mexico's affairs which I am forced to believe will be necessary before any permanent amelioration