Foreign Commercial Interests and Press Propaganda Stir Mexican Anti-jewish Agitation

Ture, Mexico is swept by a wave of economic resentment which might safely be styled as anti-foreign or anti-Semitic, according to one’s individual viewpoint and preferences. However, there are several reasons for this smouldering excitement and it is quite as well to take them fully into consideration. First of all, there is the intense nationalism prevailing in administrative circles, a nationalism which surpasses all experiences in past years. Secondly, the fact must be noted that the Mexican political structure has not changed, despite the efforts of President Calles a few years ago to implant a “system of institutions and do away with the Caudillo, the man on horseback”. The structure has remained basically the same, it is still the dictatorial and semi-dictatorial military system which keeps up a parliamentary pretense but is determined to crush any opposition, be it political party or an individual, before it is able to invade the sacred premises of power.

PRESS AGITATES AGAINST JEWS

Further, there is the press propaganda actively fostered by foreign commercial interests and destined to ruin the competition of the Jewish small merchant. This propaganda assumed, until recently, a very serious aspect and only after a protest of the Polish Charge d’Affaires, Mr. Merdinger, could the leading papers be induced to drop their anti-Semitic tone. These same papers, the Universal and the Excelsior, no longer speak of an anti-Jewish but of an anti-foreign campaign, a fact which does not deceive anyone but is highly indicative of the growing realization of the inevitable difficulties abroad. The development shows what the Mexican Government could do if it decided to fight the anti-Jewish campaign, conducted by a number of small papers and scandal sheets and aggravated by big street signs and paid propagandists in the streets and business centers.

Last, but perhaps most important are the insidious machinations of foreign commercial groups, mainly interested in the importing and manufacturing business. These business houses, mostly with their main offices in overseas countries, have amassed considerable fortunes and established a virtual monopoly in many merchandising goods. They feel that their predominance is threatened by the Jewish small merchants and manufacturers who are willing to sell better goods at a cheaper price and with a better understanding of the Mexican’s preferences and credit necessities. They are willing to break their competitors under one pretext or the other. They have given money, furnished slogans and denounced their competitors as smugglers, in short they have resorted to tactics which recall the blackmail and rough and ready activities of the knight-robbers in the middle ages.

And when this point is reached, we must look for political enlightenment. Public opinion here and abroad realizes that ex-president Calles is the great power behind the throne of President Ortiz Rubio and that nothing can be done without him. All of this is ture and in no way exaggerated. Navertheless, Calles, an allegedly sick man is unwilling to use his power too often, and prefers to leave the Ortiz Rubio administration alone in its everyday tasks and problems. Calles is, one might say, the rock which keeps the government stable out of reach of its enemies. But at the same time, it can be understood that the government, or at least important parts of it, feel highly their dependence and try to sneak out of it.

POLITICAL CHICANERY

So it appears that the government, weak and unpopular as it is, tried to play up to certain interests antagonistic to Calles who has always been extremely friendly to the Jews. Calles has kept silent in this anti-Jewish campaign, undoubtedly for reasons of his own which need not concern us here. But he knows better than anyone else where the limits lie and what must be done to correct evils and abuses. Calles is still the grand old man of Mexico and can always be relied upon to avert complications which in the long run must spell disaster to his own country.

It might also be taken for granted that the thousands of peddlers constitute a serious economic problem for Mexico and that the government is fully justified in taking a hand in it. This situation is aggravated by the return of tens of thousands of Mexicans from the United States where the economic crisis has thrown them out of work and forced them to repatriate. The government feels, rightly or wrongly, that this ever increasing number of destitute repatriates should have preference. It is therefore trying to make place for the Mexican peddler and offers him a precarious existence, even if this be harmful to other elements. But while a laudable effort in itself, it must remain futile and result in the same difficulties as soon as the Mexican peddler and small merchant become a potential danger to these large scale importing and manufacturing interests.

The Jewish small merchant has taken away a great part of the cutlery and hardware trade, hitherto almost entirely monopolized by German importers. He has invaded the hosiery trade, almost entirely controlled by Spanish firms. He has done more and has set up small manufacturing enterprises which have made heavy inroads in the trade of the leading commercial houses. This is the reason why he must be destroyed and this is why the future fight will be directed against the Mexican born small merchant as soon as he invades the economic precincts, owned and controlled by the vested interests.