whom the action is taken. A national policy that insists upon the prompt and generous fulfillment of international duty in the protection of foreigners and in payment for damages done them is one that will do more to make America respected among the other nations of the New World than will one whose chief feature is the exchange of courtesies in which hard facts are glossed. Its influence will extend beyond our narrower national interests, because it will make those upon whom demands are made conscious of the responsibilities that accompany their international "equality" and spur them on to make it less a fiction.
There is no one element which, in the relations of the two more important republics of North America, is sufficient, if emphasized, to bring the good understanding that should exist between them. Nor can the good understanding be brought through official action only. The people of both countries must forget certain of their prejudices. The stronger nation must feel the call to help the weaker through both private and public initiative. It must help raise Mexico to a condition, social and economic, in which it can help itself. This, Mexico can not do alone. The weaker nation, on its side, must recognize the responsibilities, as well as the privileges, of independence. Toward those who have helped and those who will be called upon in the future to help in the development of the country, the government must show its good will by assuring them effective protection and by respecting the engagements they have entered.
Given a policy with these characteristics, there is no reason to believe that the relations between Mexico and
