MEXICO: New President, Old Job

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Ribbon of Authority. On the morning of the inauguration, 20,000 soldiers, militia and police filed through Mexico City's streets to keep the peace. Peacefully members of Congress strolled into the bright bowl of the Chamber of Deputies, an hour early. The first distinguished foreigner to arrive was, it happened, an interesting symbol of the new regime: Patrick J. Hurley, onetime U. S. Secretary of War who, as attorney for Sinclair Oil interests, last May arranged a deal mutually beneficial to Mexico and Sinclair. Mr. Hurley later buttonholed Vicente Lombardo Toledano, the now eclipsed labor leader who engineered expropriation of foreign oil properties, promised: "I'm coming to see you before I leave Mexico."

The Chamber was packed when Henry Wallace made his way into the diplomats' gallery. The crowd rose and cheered as if he were their own. But the greatest applause, the day's most moving tribute, was for retiring President Lázaro Cárdenas. By comparison, the reception for Manuel Avila Camacho was dull.

With no ado, Avila Camacho ascended the heavy gilt and mahogany rostrum, raised his arm over a battery of microphones, and swore the oath of office: ". . . And if I do these things, may my country reward me, and if I do not, may my country hold me responsible." Lázaro Caárdenas pulled his tricolor ribbon of authority from under his waistcoat and handed it to Avila Camacho. Then the two men clasped each other in the simple Mexican abrazo—chest to chest, right hands around each other's back and thumping hard, cheeks apart.

Definition. If there had been any remaining question of the nature of Avila Camacho's regime, it was answered in his inaugural speech. On continental affairs he sounded like Franklin Roosevelt: ". . . Nothing divides us in this America of ours. Any differences that may exist between our peoples are overcome by a lofty desire to secure the permanence of a continental life of friendliness based on mutual respect and on the victory of reason over brute force, of peaceful cooperation over mechanized destruction. . . ."

On domestic issues Avila Camacho spoke in phrases which Wendell Willkie might have used:

"Every new epoch calls for the renewal of ideals. A popular clamor through the entire republic demands now material as well as spiritual consolidation of our social achievements into a prosperous and powerful national economy. The country wants a new era of reconstruction, of abundant life, of economic expansion. . . .

"Whenever [enterprises and investments] comply with our laws, every legitimate profit they make shall be respected. The companies willing to work with constant effort, and willing to risk the dangers any business may encounter, may count on guarantees from our institutions. . . .

"We count mainly on private initiative for development of our economic expansion. . . . One of the most important factors in this expansion shall be the credit which we must put at the reach of everyone and at a low cost. . . . All these things will increase the buying power of the farmer, stimulate the development of industries, and afford untold opportunities to consolidate our inheritance of justice, liberty and progress. . . .