OCR Text |
Show oo VICIOUS METHODS OF HEARST. Willie Hearst owns a number of papers pa-pers In the United States; he also has extensive property interests in Mexico Mex-ico and, therefore, favors intervention. interven-tion. He has used his papers in spreading false reports of conditions along the border in an effort to bring Mexico and the United States to war. So far he has been unsuccessful. But it was necessary for the President of the United States to Issue a severe rebuke directed against the Hearst papers, before the campaign of falsehood false-hood was checked. The San Francisco Chronicle, a strong Republican paper, supports the President In this open reprimand of those who would foment war in order to advance their private Interests, and says: "The President is justified In protesting pro-testing against the work of unscrupulous unscrupu-lous persons in giving the character of war to our pursuit of a murderer who has escaped Into Mexico. This pursuit is In accordance with a reciprocal reci-procal agreement with the Mexican government which, existed for many years, and which, having lapsed, has been rather informally renewed with the de facto government. That Is all there iB of the search for Vila, which It 1b not proper to call a 'punitive expedition,' ex-pedition,' for that term applies to an expedition against an entire people All we are after 1b a murderer who has escaped Into Mexico and which the de facto government Is helping us to capture. When we catch him he will be duly tried and, if found guilty, duly hanged. And upon that tho Incident Inci-dent will be closed. An alternative which would bo quite acceptable to our peoplo would be to 'turn Villa over to the do facto government, which would close the Incident by speedier methods than are possible by any practice recognized by our laws. The fact that Villa has so many pals and has escaped Into such a wild country that It Is necessary to pursue him with a considerable force does not changG the character of the expedition, expedi-tion, which Is merely doing the work of a sheriff's posse. To troat this expedition as if It were an operation of 'war Is deception of our own people, peo-ple, which, however reprehensible,, would not call for any protest by the PresidonU The injury comes from its effect on the unfortunate people ot Mexico, whose minds, already inflamed inflam-ed by tho bloody contentions of past years, read these inflammatory reports re-ports as representative of American public opinion that we are at war with them, and creates in them an Impulse to fight back. Especially Is this true when lying reports of alleged al-leged internal defections and revolts in Mexico which do not exist are spread broadcast in this country." |