When the Mexican Government broke off diplomatic relations with Great Britain the news was treated with far more thoroughness in the American Press than in the British It was treated not only with thoroughness, but with a certain amount of relish. The usually staid editorial writer of the Washington "Evening Star" under the influence of excessive excitement, so far forgot himself as to depict little Mexico "bearding" the British lion by "twisting its tail." There were a few writers who realized that it would only be by some such logic defying defeat that the Mex Government could extricate itself from the mess into which it had insisted upon leaping. The majority however, discussed, the unprecedented nature of a small nation breaking off relations with a great power and decided that the London Government had brought the catastrophe on its own head by the unnecessary sharpness of its protests over the seizure of British oil wells by the Mexican Government.
Only two years ago the Persian, or as it prefers to be called the Iranian, Government broke off relations with the United States when its Minister was treated with scant respect by local Maryland police while the sharpness of the British notes over the seizure of the oil properties was matched by the "emphatic protest" of the American Government to Germany over the threatened seizure of property belonging to American Jews The sharpness, however, or lack of sharpness of the British protest, the boldness or lack of precedent for the Mexican Governmeni action are not the most important features in the Mexican situation, as Administration officials realize far better than the press commentators. hole Mexican situation, whatever y the Mexican Government or by the British or American Governments, is an unfortunate one. The American Government bases its policy towards Latin America on the "good neighbour" doctrine, the object of which is to erase the memori, of past policies when the United States filled the role of "big brother" and, as big brothers will, kept peace among the family of American nations by knocking their heads together.
The Mexican response to the American Government's friendliness was, however, disillusioning. The seizure of American oil properties (together with British) was but one of a Long chain of unneighbourly actions. As the Secretary of State pointed out when ihe oil properties were seized, "During the past few years the Mexican Government in pursuance of its national policy has expropriated and is continuing to expropriate the tries of citizens of other countries in Among these have been hundreds of farms and other properties of American citizens... The recent expropriation of oil properties belonging to American citizens is but one incident in a long series of incidents of this character."
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.