Page:Hands off Mexico.djvu/27

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hoped to win back Texas, Arizona, California, and New Mexico. He said that the defeat of Germany had not altered the attitude of Carranza and that, through the good offices of Carranza, the Germans had been more active since the Armistice than ever before in obtaining control of the basic industries of Mexico."

"The activity of Carranza in driving Americans out and confiscating their property is explained by the fact that Germans with plenty of money stand ready to pick up the property at bargain rates."

"According to Dr. Altendorf, the Germans have acquired the titles to mines, oil fields, and other properties constituting the bulk of Mexican wealth, after the titles had been taken away from Americans and other foreigners. Almost invariably, he said, Germans got control of the properties of Americans, who were slain by Mexicans, who were driven from the country, or who were deprived of their titles by chicanery."

"As soon as the treaty is ratified there will be a hegira of a quarter of a million Germans from the United States who will take with them to Mexico $400,000,000 capital. There are already 150,000 Germans in Mexico and German immigration on a large scale will soon turn the country into a German colony."

"It must not be forgotten that Carranza is the original bolshevist, or perhaps he may have gotten the idea from William Bayard Hale and Lincoln Steffens and their German friends. . . . In fact, there is a great deal of circumstantial evidence to show that Germany first instigated bolshevism in Mexico to ruin the country so all that was of value could be bought in at nominal prices and the way thus paved for the establishment of Kultur; and, finding the plan worked beyond the expectations, transplanted the devilish virus to Russia."

It ought not to be necessary to comment on this propaganda. Its purpose cannot be mistaken. To anyone even moderately informed upon Mexico it convicts its author, his employers, and that part of the press which gave it prominence, of deliberate conspiracy and fraud.

Carranza has not driven Americans out of Mexico. He has not confiscated any American property and sold it to Germans. Germans have not obtained control of any of the basic industries. In the oil and mining industries Germans are conspicuous by their absence. There are not 150,000 Germans in Mexico or one-fifth of that number. No one, of course, can tell how many Germans will go from the United States into Mexico, or how much money they will carry with them.

If Germany is held in complete economic and military subjection to her conquerors for a period of years, as the Peace Treaty provides, how can she gain either military or economic control of a continent thousands of miles distant, "within six months" or any other period?

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