Lastly, incompetence. Perhaps the most appalling factor of the whole Mexican situation is the utter and profound ignorance of the men in control of the national affairs, men to whom the culture, the very procedure, of modern civilization are as a closed book. I believe that the oil problem is made serious chiefly because the Mexicans who might otherwise be willing to solve it are so uneducated, so limited in viewpoint and understanding, that they cannot conceive of the vast sums of money which must be invested in pipe lines, storage tanks, pumping stations, wharves and ships and refineries before the oil taken from their country’s soil becomes the fabulous treasure of which they hear so much. They seem utterly incapable of grasping the fundamentals of their national problems; the pity of the condition almost obscures the significance of the fact. It has not been easy for me to explain the oil problem in its simplest phases to Americans, yet in this chapter you who have read it have learned more than the floor leaders of the Mexican congress will ever know. It is through this forest of ignorance, this slime of graft, that the foreign oil companies are making their way. They have committed many mistakes in their handling of the situation, selfish mistakes, mistakes of ignorance, but the struggle has been against forces whose depravity has been literally unbelievable. Personally, I am no fire-eater, but I have seen much of Mexico and I have seen something of the psychology of depravity, and I believe that the last lingering hope of Mexican adaptability to world conditions lies in Mexican recognition of the need of grasping truth rather than theory, of facing facts with manly faith in Mexico and in Mexican ability to solve her problems as other nations solve theirs, by honesty and patriotism and not by graft and personalism. This attitude the oil companies have nurtured, and in this their policy has been a policy of weakness. Seeking here an outlet for the day, there a hope for the morrow, they have put a premium on Mexican dishonesty, given a prize for Mexican argumentative skill. I know some of the problems the companies have faced, I know the need for oil during the war, I have written here something of the magnificence of their achievement, but for all that, I hold that they have had much to do with the vacillation, the inefficiency, the watery, grafting policy of the Mexican governments from Carranza to Obregon. They have had a large part in making such a policy successful by not refusing unjust demands firmly and directly, by not challenging Carranza to close the oil fields, by not taking a mighty loss to save the endless leak of graft and taxes and cynical legislation which is their heritage to-day. Even yet their policy is one of conciliation to Obregon, the newest president; still they are offering compromise, still giving the subtle Mexican mind to understand that perhaps they might agree to