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REVIEW OE REVIEWS. 



Chaos in Mexico. 



Events in Mexico demonstrate the 

 need for a dictator of the Diaz type if 

 the country is to be pacified. The 

 situation is full of anxiety to President 

 Wilson, who is strongly averse to in- 

 tervention, despite tiie jiressure being 

 brought to bear on iiim to take a hand 

 in terminating the present state of 

 anarchy in the unliappy Republic. Per- 

 haps the most significant tiling which 

 has happened in Mexico is the demon- 

 stration of welcome which marked the 

 arrival of the Japanese Ambassador. 

 The mob tore down the British and 

 American flags, and trampled upon 

 them, then, hoisting the banner of the 

 rising sun, it paraded the streets, giv- 

 ing cheers for Japan. Nothing strikes 

 a visitor to Mexico more than the re- 

 markably close similarity there is be- 

 tween the native Indians and the 

 Japanese. Tt is now generally assumed 

 that both have a common origin, al- 

 though neither have any likeness to the 

 Spanish-Indian mixture which has 

 finally produced the Mexican of to-day. 

 If Japan is invited b\- one party or an- 

 other to assist in restoring order, Dr. 

 Wilson will be in an awkward predica- 

 ment. He would probably intervene at 

 once, although for Japanese troops to 

 land in Mexico — not to conquer the 

 country, but to assist a faction to 

 create a stable Government — is not a 

 violation of the Monroe Doctrine. If 

 the report is correct tliat Didier Mas- 

 son, the aviator operating with the 

 rebel forces, actually succeeded in de- 

 stroying a Federal gunboat by drop- 

 ping bombs on her from his aeroplane, 

 it should cause the British Government 

 "furiously to think," and, let us hope, 

 to try and make good a hopeless de- 

 ficiency in the " fourth nrm." 



Columbia and U.S.A. 



The recent action of the Columbian 

 Minister in Washington recalls the in- 



cidents of the Panama revolution in 

 1903. As President Roosevelt has him- 

 self admitted, he " took " the fifty mile 

 strip where the canal was to be dug — 

 took it, too, on his own responsibility, 

 without the Senate's instructions — and 

 considered himself amply justified in so 

 doing. "It must," he said, "be a mat- 

 ter of pride to every honest American 

 proud of the good name of his country 

 that the acquisition of the canal, in all 

 its details, was as free from scandal 

 as the public acts of George Washing- 

 ton or Abraham Lincoln." Not a Colum- 

 bian but is positive that the uprising in 

 Panama was engineered from Wash- 

 ington, that the new " Republic " of 

 Panama was guaranteed in advance by 

 the States on condition that the canal 

 zone should become theirs. The Gov- 

 ernment at Washington has steadily 

 refused to arbitrate the matter, but 

 (^)lumbia perseveres, and has now sub- 

 mitted a statement of the case to 

 President Wilson. He will be in an 

 awkward dilemma, because either he 

 will have to refuse arbitration or, if the 

 statements freely published by Colum- 

 bians are correct, run the very danger- 

 ous risk of Columbia proving her case. 

 He will probably take the former 

 course, despite the tacit admission of 

 complicity it will convey. The method 

 of the loss of Panama has created so 

 bitter a feeling in Columbia that Sec- 

 retary of State Knox was obliged to 

 omit Bogota altogether from his pro- 

 gress through South America last year. 

 Obviously the United States had to ac- 

 quire the canal zone, but the revolution 

 came rather too opportunely, allowing 

 escape from a hard bargain with 

 Columbia, to be regarded by the rest 

 of the world as merely a coincidence. 

 Since Columbia presented her state- 

 ment, President Wilson has decided to 

 institute protection and supervision 

 over Nicaragua. This project of his 



