The Mexican situation is still unsettled. Recent details, as is
characteristic of the country, read more like those of a tale of the Wild West than of a political quarrel. In reply to a demand by the State Department at Washington for the capture and punishment of the murderers of an American citizen, PresidentCarranza, says the Times correspondent at Washington, replied that if Americans would• persist in leaving the populous regions in search of profit in the wilds, his Government could not undertake their protection. He ended by an impertinent reference to the recent race riots in Chicago and the apparent difficulty of preserving order even " in the most populous cities of the most cultured countries." This incident was followed a few days later by the capture of two American airmen by Mexican bandits, who demanded• a ransom of £3,000, to be paid in gold. " The message," says the Times correspondent, " was brought into the frontier town by a well-known bandit and delivered at the Fort by one of the townspeople." The ransom has been paid by the American Government and the airmen have been released. American troops are now in pursuit of the bandits. Public indignation at this and other outrages in Mexico is very great, and it is being demanded that either President Carranza must guarantee to restore order or the United States Government must at last take action.
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