Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/208

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192
MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA

been relegated, in order to be considered anew; but excuses and pleas will no longer avail, for the hour has struck and the decision must be made. What answer can be given as to the cancellation of bank concessions and the forced loans from the banks, as to the seizure of the tramways and of the Mexican railroads, as to the indefinite suspension of the public debt services, as to failure to meet the railroad coupons, etc., etc.? We frankly do not know; but we foresee the full weight of responsibilities, and as Mexicans earnestly desire a solution satisfactory to our dignity and decorum. This doubt, however, assails us: Are those who direct our destinies in these days able to settle such momentous problems? If the group at present all-powerful in administration circles continues as it has heretofore, without new blood, without expelling from its midst the corrupt elements, we can readily give a categorical 'NO.'

"We must set down here — for this is the gravest of all our responsibilities — our attitude during the war, our much vaunted nationalism which served as a ready pretext for several authorities to support the Germanophile press, which favoured the election of the standard-bearer of the Teutons in Mexico as Senator for the Federal District. We must think, too, of the whole series of irritating acts of unjustified arrogance, of idiotic conduct which only the folly of several of our compatriots made possible. We must recall the withdrawal of our representative in Cuba as the first step toward carrying out a new international doctrine. We think of so many and so varied proofs of leaning toward Germany which if we were to relate them would make this article too long. Our purpose is merely to point