LATIN AMERICA: Majority Opinion

A majority of the correspondents in Mexico cabled last week their opinion that the Roman Catholic Church stands on the verge of defeat in its struggle against the suppressive laws of the Calles Government (TIME, Feb. 22 et seq). Reasons for the correspondents’ majority opinion:

Petition Squelched. Roman Catholic attempts to secure six million signatures for a petition of protest to be presented to the Mexican Parliament resulted in the presentation to that body last week of the petition—signed by 162,830 persons. The Mexican Chamber of Deputies refused to act upon the petition by a vote of 161 to 1.*

Boycott Fizzles. When the Roman Catholic boycott of Mexican commerce was instituted (TIME, Aug. 16 et seq.) Thomas W. Lamont, potent international banker, stern, suave partner of J. P. Morgan & Co., requested his agents in Mexico to survey the boycott situation from a purely financial aspect.

The “Lamont Report,” as it was promptly christened, sped over humming rails from Mexico City to Manhattan last week. Conclusion: 1) That Mexican commerce has returned to normal in every Mexican state but one. 2) That in the city of Guadalajara, famed Roman Catholic stronghold, commerce has regained a level of about 60% of normal.

Well poised, the Lamont agents did not scorn to include picturesque details in their fiscal tabulation. They reported that: 1) Roman Catholic families, enjoined not to attend the cinema, have very widely eschewed the cinema houses which they individually patronized, but have sought others in parts of their cities where they are not known. 2) At Guadalajara many self-styled devout Roman Catholics, imperfectly converted from paganism, are to be seen on their knees in streets praying to Xochimilco, the pagan god of Mexico City’s canal district, imploring him to loose floods upon President Calles as a punishment for the President’s disrespect toward the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Mexican Pope? There would appear to be left to the Mexican Episcopate only the weapon of violence against the Calles Government—a weapon which the Episcopate has resolutely and repeatedly declared that it will not attempt to use.

The only avenue of compromise which appeared open last week was a reported offer by the Calles Government to recognize and tolerate a Mexican Pope who should have no connection with the See of Rome. Though many of the Roman Catholic prelates of Mexico are pure-blooded Mexicans (some are even Mexican Indians), the Episcopate has hitherto repudiated all proposals of this sort. None the less Mexican news organs reported last week that Bishop Diaz of Tabasco “Generalissimo of the Episcopate” had been recalled hastily from a tour of the provinces by the Archbishop of Mexico to confer as to a compromise with officials of the Mexican Government.

*Deputy Ernesto Hidalgo of Guanajuato. His valorous championship of the petition was greeted by cries of “Swine, you have taken Catholic bribes! Let him talk himself into the mud! Let’s talk about the Dempsey-Tunney fight!” (News of this match was then being received over the radio.)