--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Ballard, Melvin J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 29 number: 12 published: 1926-10 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Ballard, Melvin J., “Conditions in Mexico,” *Improvement Era* 29, no. 12 (October 1926): 1127–1136." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera29012unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera29012unse start_page: 1127 end_page: 1136 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1926-10) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera29012unse publication_year: 1926 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1926, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Conditions in Mexico Improvement Era Vol. XXIX OCTOBER, 1926 No. 12 CONDITIONS IN MEXICO A Reply to Monsignor D. G. Hunt, of the Catholic Church By President Anthony W. Ivins, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Reprinted from the Salt Lake Tribune, of August 15, 1926.) Editor Tribune: In your issue of Sunday, the 8th, you publish a letter addressed to me, written by Father Hunt of the Catholic church. When I made the address referred to before the Exchange club, I had no thought that it would result in any discussion of the subject treated; but inasmuch as Father Hunt has addressed me through the public press, courtesy requires me to reply. I inclose herewith my reply, and, if consistent with your policy, request that it be given the same publicity granted to the writer of the letter to which it is an answer. With assurances of respect and esteem, sincerely yours, A. W. IVINS. Monsignor D. G. Hunt, Cathedral of the Madeleine, 331 East South Temple Street, City. Dear Monsignor Hunt: — I have received and read with interest your letter of the 7th addressed to me, and published in part in the Sunday issue of The Salt Lake Tribune. I thank you for it, and the fair and open-minded manner in which you refer to the remarks made by me before the Exchange club on Friday, the 6th. Your letter affords me the opportunity to state clearly my atti- tude in regard to the unfortunate condition which exists in Mexico at the present time, and which appears to have brought on a conflict be- tween the Calles government and the Catholic church, which will be difficult to compose. Before answering your letter in the order in which you have writ- Entered at the Post Office, Salt Lake City, Utah, as second class matter. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1 103. Act of October 3, 1917, authorized on July 2, 1918, $2 per annum. Address Room 4 06, Church Office Building, Salt Lake City, Utah. 1128 IMPROVEMENT ERA ten it, permit me to define my attitude regarding the proper relation- ship which should exist between the church and the state. When 1 use the word church, I mean it to apply to the Catholic church, to all Protestant denominations, and to the church of which I am a member. The remarks which I made before the Exchange club were not intended to be a defense of the Calles government, nor a criticism of the Catholic church. Mexico is a foreign power; it is not the govern- ment to which I have pledged allegiance or to which I owe obedience, except in so far as my responsibility to honor and respect its laws when I may be a temporary resident within its confines is concerned. The greater part of my active life I have devoted to work in Mexico. I have been intimately acquainted with her presidents during that time, have had large business transactions with her state depart- ments, have been in the homes of the wealthy and have slept in the hovels of her oppressed and downtrodden peasantry. I have partaken of their scanty hospitality, always cheerfully given; have heard from their own lips, and seen with my own eyes, the tragic story of their unhappy lives. I know their strong religious convictions, their devo- tion to the principles for which patriots have given their lives all down through the ages. I am alone as I write this letter. I have consulted with no one. I speak only for myself and assume the entire responsi- bility for what I may say. I have lying on my desk the story of the lives of the Mexican people during the past four hundred years as it is told by the Abbe Domenech, by Father Las Casa, by Solis, Bernal Diaz and other writers, devoted men of your own faith, who were eyewit- nesses of the things which they declare to be truths. I have the story told by Prescott, Bancroft, Von Humboldt, Abbott and others, men among the most reliable that have written on the subject. I also have copies of the current daily press published in the City of Mexico, which come to me every morning. I have endeavored to be properly in- formed. They all tell the same story — a story of patriotism, courage and self-sacrifice, unsurpassed by the patriots of our own country, as Mexi- cans have struggled for more than a century to emancipate themselves from the thralldom of kingcraft and priestcraft with which they have been bound for more than four hundred years, two forces which have been responsible for more misery, sorrow and bloodshed than all oth- ers combined. It is for these people that I plead. All that I ask is that patience be exercised; that they be left to adjust their own internal affairs with- out interference; that reason and justice be applied instead of hatred, malice and force. I plead that the words of the Divine Master, whom both you and I profess to follow, be applied: "Whatsoever ye would that men shall do unto you, do ye even so unto them." I make this appeal in behalf of the Mexican people, in behalf of Catholics and Protestants alike — may God give them freedom founded upon right- eousness and justice. CONDITIONS IN MEXICO 1129 The Proper Relationship of Church and State I believe that civil governments are indispensable to the safety, happiness and development of mankind. I believe that God, our Father, who has created the earth and placed man upon it, and who has ever had a watchful care over his children, has inspired men, from time to time, to establish such systems of government as the time and circum- stances demanded, in order that the definite plan which he has pro- vided for the blessing and ultimate redemption of his children may be accomplished. Civil governments are controlled by laws which are enacted by the people who are to be governed by them. These laws are administered by executors who are chosen by the voice of the people. They are human laws, and must be obeyed by all citizens who reside within the con- fines of the state where they are in force. They control our lives, our liberties, the possessions which we call our own. If we refuse to obey, the state administers the penalties which the law provides. It may take our lives, restrain us in our liberties, or take from us our prop- erty; our resistance to it is hopeless. It is human law, and compels obedience whether we will or not. Religion is instituted of God, and men are amenable to him and to him only for the exercise of it. I do not believe that human laws should prescribe rules of worship which bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms of public or private devotion, except where the exer- cise of these ceremonies infringe upon the rights of others. I believe that the civil magistrate should restrain crime, but never control con- science; should punish guilt, but never suppress the freedom of the soul. I do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another pro- scribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its mem- bers, as citizens, denied. I do not believe that any religious society should try men on the right of property or life, take from them this world's goods, put them in jeopardy of life or limb, or inflict any physical punishment upon them. They can only excommunicate them from their society and withdraw from them the hand of fellowship. The civil magistrate acts in his office under the provisions of hu- man laws, which are compulsory. The officer of the church should act by authority of God, whose priesthood he assumes to hold. This priest- hood has no compulsory power, but must be maintained by persuasion, by gentleness, by kindness and love unfeigned, without hypocrisy and without guile. I believe civil government, founded upon principles of righteous- ness and justice, indispensable to the orderly existence of society, and that it should be perpetuated. I believe religion indispensable to the perpetuity and stability of 1130 IMPROVEMENT ERA the state. The place of the church is to teach and uphold those prin- ciples of equality, justice, righteousness and morality which the lessons of the past teach us are the only secure foundation upon which national existence can be perpetuated. If you and I do not agree on these conclusions, if our opinions differ, can we not sit down together, and, by reason and argument, find common ground upon which we can stand? Or will we, we men of the twentieth century, who live in the most enlightened and progress- ive period of the world's history, with the lessons of the past to guide us, and with the gospel of the Master in our hands, continue to cherish the rancor and hatred and bitterness of the past, until the world shall again be drenched in human blood? Answering Your Letter You say: "You and I are Americans. We believe that our fed- eral constitution and our state constitutions are just in that they recog- nize certain inalienable rights. Among these are the right to own pri- vate property, the right to have private schools, the right of free speech and. the press, and the right to worship God according to one's con- science. These are rights for which you and I would fight." Upon this you and I can have no argument. Yes, we would fight in defense of these inherent rights which are so dear to us, but we must not overlook the fact that these privileges are guaranteed to us with certain well-defined limitations, and that whenever we exercise them in a manner that we infringe upon the rights of others, the guar- antee ceases to be in force. The right of free speech is guaranteed to me, but if I exercise that right to defame you, if I utter words of sedi- tion against the government which has conferred this right upon me, and protects me in the exercise of it, I may be justly silenced by the law. It is my right to possess property, but if I obtain that property by unfair means, it may be rightfully taken from me, and restored to its proper owner. The freedom of the press is mine, but if I use it to excite sedition and rebellion against the government which has granted this privilege to me I forfeit it and have no just right to complain if it is taken from me. We are entitled to establish and maintain church schools, but if the church university at Provo advocates that the univer- sity established by the state shall be abolished, and the church en- courages that attitude; if the University of Utah is finally abolished, and the church declares that there shall be no institutions of learning established in the United States, except those which are controlled by it, I am certain that you will agree with me that such action would con- stitute a just reason why the civil law should declare our right to con- duct church schools forfeited. After recounting the restrictions placed upon the Catholic church and clergy in Mexico, under the existing law, you say: "If you can picture what all this would mean to you and the CONDITIONS IN MEXICO 1131 members of your church, you can understand what the present laws and the present attitude of the government of Mexico mean to the Catholics and the Catholic church in that unfortunate country." I can visualize it, and have nothing to say in defense of it. The church of which I am a member has passed through similar experiences. Laws have been enacted by the congress of the United States prohibit- ing the practice of certain principles held very dear by the church and its members, and against the practice, of which there was no existent law. The church was disincorporated, all of its property confiscated, its leading priesthood disfranchised, family ties were sundered, and men thrown into prison because of their adherence to a principle which they believed to be both scriptural and proper. There was no revolt, no effort made to incite the members of the church to oppose by other than legal means. In a dignified man- ner, the legality of the law was contested in the courts, and, when declared to be constitutional, the church immediately adjusted itself to be in obedience to the law, and has religiously honored and obeyed it. I believe that all questions which may arise, where the church and state disagree, should be composed in that way. You say to me: "Suppose that the laws of the state, dating back to a time of barbarity, provide that every person sixty years of age shall be executed. Suppose that you become president of that state and promptly proceed to execute all persons sixty years of age. You are accused of inhumanity, and cruelty, and injustice. You then plead in your defense — 'I have no desire to execute old people. I cannot do a thing to change the laws; it breaks my heart to take the life of anyone; I assure the very persons whom I am now executing that I love them dearly, but please do not blame me.' That is the attitude of the Mexican president, according to you. Is it sincere?" If that were the attitude of the Mexican president, according to me, and I sustained him in it, I would consider my attitude as ab- surd as the question appears to me. Such a condition as suggested in your question has never existed, never can exist; therefore, no answer to it is necessary. The Mexican president is not acting under a law which was en- acted in a time of barbarity, but one which is of recent creation. Let me present the situation by asking you another hypothetical question. Suppose that I issued a decree that all persons who differ from me in religious beliefs should be put to death. Suppose that law is enforced, and thousands of people executed under it. Suppose the law is finally repealed, but I continue to execute it. You come to me and protest, and insist that its execution must cease, and I urge that it is a law established by infallible authority and shall be upheld. Would you be justified in putting a stop to the execution of unbelievers? Would it be your duty to permit me to go on, or would you enforce the law, regardless of my protest? This is not a question based upon either an improbability or impossibility — it has actually occurred. 1H2 IMPROVEMENT ERA What I Said Before the Exchange Club I began my address by saying that Mexico is reaping the harvest from seed sown four hundred years ago, and, in order to justify this statement, I reviewed the history of that country, from the time of the conquest until the present. My address was not written, I spoke from my own knowledge, and quoted from the writings of the ablest historians who have written on the subject. What I said and quoted is the truth, as near as it is possible for me to tell it, without prejudice or favor. If in repeating those remarks here I shall offend the Catholic church, its clergy, or anyone of my acquaintances who are members of the church, whose friendship I highly esteem, I shall greatly regret it. The Abbe Emmanuel Domenech, in his Mexico as It Is — The Truth, says: "My principle is that truth injures only him who speaks it. It is often useful to those who hear. I shall not take pains to invent, but write only the truth." The Conquest After the slaughter of two hundred thousand Mexicans, as near as I am able to compute the figures given, when Hernan Cortez, with his small army of Spaniards and large number of Indian allies, effected the conquest of the City of Mexico in May, 1520, he found himself in possession of the capital city of the Aztec empire, which, it is esti- mated, ruled over thirty millions of people. Not nomadic, wandering tribes, but a people living in great cities, which they had builded, with palaces, temples, and beautiful homes — a civilization which many his- torians tell us was in some respects superior to that of Spain. Gold and silver, precious stones and pearls existed in quantities beyond the dreams of the most rapacious conquistador. Pope Alexander IV pledged to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain every isle, continent and sea where they should plant their flag in the western hemisphere. Julius II, his successor, confirmed these grants, and added all of the benefices, dignities and offices claimed by the Holy See. The king of Spain thus became the supreme head of both the church and state, thus making both the church and state responsible for the acts of their respective representatives in the conquest and gov- ernment of the new world. After the conquest of the Aztec empire, there began a campaign of murder, rapine, and destruction unequalled in the history of the modern world. Michael Chevalier, writing of the conquest of Mexico, says: "It was a crusade, a holy war against the infidels. To compel them to confess the faith was an incomparable merit. In such a case it was a little matter that they gave unbridled license to their passions, that they were licentious, covetous, and bathed themselves in blood. Every sin would be atoned by so good a work." In all of this the cross went before the conquistador. The battle cry was the Holy Virgin and the saints; every soldier considered him- CONDITIONS IN MEXICO 1133 self an apostle whose duty it was first to conquer the heathen, and after the battle was over baptize those who were left alive. When a city was taken, the conquerors rushed to the idolatrous temples, and, appro- priating the gold with which they were adorned, threw down the heathen idols and, raising the image of the Holy Virgin or saints in their places, commanded the astonished natives to bow down and wor- ship them, declaring that these were their gods, and that they were more powerful than the gods of Tenochitlan. The people "did so and were declared to be Christians. Peter of Ghent, a Flemish monk, writing from Mexico in 1529, says that he and another missionary had converted two hundred thou- sand Mexicans, their ordinary day's work being from ten to twenty thousand souls. Father Hunt, do you believe that people who are converted under these circumstances can possibly have proper understanding of Christianity? Von Humboldt says: "The introduction of the Romish relig- ion had no other effect on the Mexicans than to substitute new cere- monies and symbols for the rights of a sanguinary worship. I have seen them, masked and adorned with tinkling bells, perform savage dances around the altar, while a monk of St. Francis elevated the Host." The Abbe Emmanuel Domenech says: "The Mexican is not a Catholic — he is simply a Christian because he has been baptized. I say that Mexico is not a Catholic country." This man was a Catholic priest, and chaplain and spiritual adviser to the Emperor Maximilian and the expeditionary forces sent by France to establish him on the throne of a Catholic empire which they plotted to create in Mexico. The value of the loot gathered by the conquerors of Mexico, in gold, silver, gems and cloth of gold, will never be known. It made Spain the wealthiest nation of her time, and enriched the church until it was declared to have been the most magnificent and impressive eccle- siastical establishment in the world. The personal property of the Mexicans exhausted, the conquer- ors turned for profit to the people themselves. Great numbers were carried to the old world, where they were sold into slavery. Reparta- mentos were made by which the lands, and the people upon them, were divided among the Spaniards. In vain Father Las Casas and other holy men cried out against these abuses; in vain they appealed to the king of Spain and to the head of the church in behalf of these hapless people. "No words can depict the miseries of these hapless races. Burning, torturing, mutilating and branding followed revolt. Starvation, exhaustion, blows were their lot in time of peace. Households were rendered desolate, wives were torn from husbands, daughters from parents, to be distributed among soldiers and sailors, while the children were put to work in the gold washings, and there perished by thousands." Las Casas declares that in 1134 IMPROVEMENT ERA fifteen years from four to five millions of people perished in Guatamala alone, while the bishop of Chiapa says that fifteen millions were ex- terminated in his time. Do you wonder that Guatamoctzin, the heroic young emperor of Mexico at the time of the final conquest, the last to occupy the throne of Montezuma, said to Cortez, who had ordered him stretched over burning coals, in order to compel him to reveal state secrets and accept Christianity: rtAs for me and mine, we elect to die. I will neither trust the men who commit, nor the God who permits, such atrocities." The Struggle for Liberty The circumstances which led to the declaration of Mexican in- dependence were similar to those which existed in the colonies at the time of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. Spain had prohibited the production of certain articles in Mexico which could be produced in the mother country. Miguel Hidalgo y Costillo, a Catholic priest at the town of Dolores, had planted a vine- yard, and was engaged in an endeavor to make the production of silk in the new world a success. Under royal decree his vineyard and silk worms were destroyed. On September 10, 1810, at midnight, he rang his chapel bell and at the signal a large number of people assembled. Hidalgo declared Mexico an independent nation and appealed to those assembled to join him and fight for freedom. One hundred thousand Indians rallied to his standard, and for a short time were successful, but they were without discipline, without arms, and were no match for the army of trained Spanish soldiers which marched against them. They were excommunicated by the church, hunted down by the soldiery, until Hidalgo was finally betrayed by Bustamente and executed at the city of Chihuahua, the first martyr for the liberties of Mexico. Hidalgo was dead, but the torch of liberty which he had lighted could not be extinguished. Men like Morelos, Nicolas bravo, Allende, Guerrero and other patriots kept up the fight against what appeared to be insurmountable obstacles, until the inde- pendence of Mexico was achieved. Myer, in his Political History of Mexico, says: "After the Spaniards again obtained temporary mastery under General Calleja, the annals of the time teem with accounts of sanguinary vengeance which was wreaked by that inhuman monster upon the victims who fell within his grasp. "For this distinguished service Calleja was created marshal, deco- rated with the grand cross of the Order of Charles III, and appointed viceroy." From this time there was constant conflict between the Clerical party and the Republicans, and the government periodically changed from one of these parties to the other. Abbott, in his Mexico and the United States, says: CONDITIONS IN MEXICO 1135 "In 1826 the legislature of the state of Oajaca established the Institute of Arts and Sciences, at which school a course in law was to be given. A Catholic seminary had already been established at Oajaca, and the Clerical party immediately declared war upon the institute, denouncing it as a focus of revolution and heresy. The institute was finally abolished, but not until it had given to Mexico Benito Juarez, Miguel Mendez, both pure-blooded Indians, and others whos« names will live in the hearts of the Mexican people as long as those of Wash- ington, Jefferson and Lincoln live in the hearts of loyal citizens of the United States." To follow the history of the struggle of the Mexican people for liberty from this time until Juarez and his compatriot, Porfirio Diaz, would be interesting and enlightening, but my letter is already long. It is sufficient to say that repeatedly, while in control of the govern- ment, the Clerical party endeavored to induce a foreign prince to come to Mexico and assume the throne and establish a Catholic empire, and that with the coming of Maximilian their purpose appeared to have been accomplished; but the Republicans, under Juarez, were finally victorious, Maximilian was executed, and the last hope of the Clerical party to establish a Catholic empire vanished. The fact that Mexico today, after four hundred years of govern- ment, has a population of only about fifteen millions of people, not- withstanding its immense natural resources, and that millions of people have gone to that country from the old world, is indisputable evidence that something has been wrong with her system of government. . Father Hunt, this is not a defense of the present Mexican gov- ernment; it is not an arraignment of the Catholic church. I do not in any degree hold the present head of the Catholic church, her cardinals, her bishops or her clergy, responsible for the acts of their predecessors. I absolve them from all responsibility for the acts to which I have referred; but you know that people with these tragedies of the past before them, people who are yet struggling for real civilization and religious liberty, are entitled to sympathy, even if in some instances they go to extremes. While neither you nor I should be held responsi- ble for the acts of our predecessors, we both know that the lessons of the past are the mile-posts which are placed along the way, and that if we follow the straight path which has led other people into safe harbors we are secure; if we walk in other than the path marked out by our Lord and Master, we are in danger. In conclusion, I desire to make plain this one point: I believe in the indispensable necessity of the existence of constitutional law to govern us in temporal affairs. I sustain the civil law of my country and its constitution against all people who seek to destroy it, be they foreign or domestic, be they emperors, kings, rulers or magistrates. Whether they be popes, cardinals, bishops, priests or laymen; whether they be in my own church or yours, they must not attack these God- given institutions upon which our government rests, and if I properly 1136 IMPROVEMENT ERA understand the character of the men who make up the membership of the church of which I am a member, they defend these principles of civil government to the last man. With respect and friendship, I re- main, sincerely yours. A. W. IVINS. Salt Lake City. August 14, 1926. Heights Up at the canyon's crest, Where the matchless eagles soar, And the wind speeds by, With a high, shrill cry, Bending the tree tops o'er, Will be found life's zest — With the tingling thrill of the pungent hill, Answering the ceaseless quest. But — Only those who dare May breathe clean air, Up there. Out on the mountain steep, Where the wind-scarred cedars grow, Where no sound is heard, But .the stir of a bird. Answering his mate below, There's a silence deep — Away from the roar of the canyon's floor — Where the soul may vigils keep. But — Only those who care Learn secrets rare, Up there. Up on the summit line, Where the ponderous silence lies, Where the earth's great face, Reaches up through space, Piercing the wise old skies, There's a quiet shrine — There, away from strife, and alone with life. One perceives the plan divine. But- Earthly dross foreswear, If truth you'd share, Up there. Sigurd, Utah IRV1N L. WARNOCK