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Show IM - oo K ROOSEVELT WANTS K WAR. m. There is no denying that former ft President Roosevelt has the power of I presenting his side in a political Issue I ' with great force. He is a campaigner h who appeals to the emotions. In his 1 1 speech in Battle Creek, Mich., he ad- I v dresses himself to American pride in U K the following: b H President Wilson by his policy i fl of tame submission to Insult and injury from all whom he feared m has invited the murder of our men, ; m women, and children by Mexican ft! bandits on land, and by German K submarines on the sea. He has - I 5 spoken much of the "New Free- ft dom." In international practice K this has meant freedom for the I' representatives of any foreign I ; power to murder American men, l and outrage American women un- . checked by the President Presi- j ; dent Wilson has counted upon his belief that the American peo- pie are Indifferent to their duties. It because they are too mucn ao- sorbed in war profits, too much 1 pleased with the unhealthy pros perity which flourishes because others are suffering; too greedily content with a momentary immunity immu-nity from danger, due to the fact all possible foes are otherwise engaged. He has believed that our people will not look ahead. He has believed that they will 1 remain blind to the fact that dis aster will surely In the end overtake over-take them if they shirk their duties in the present. He believes be-lieves that if they are allowed to enjoy good profits and high wageB, and go to the movies, and purchase automobiles, they will pay no thought to the possibility of future ruin, and no thought to I' the sufferings of their fellow- ' countrymen and countrywomen who, at the present moment, suf- er the last extremities of torture and outrage. Porter Emerson Browne has shown exactly the way In which we are looked at abroad In a ; recent statement which runs as "An American friend of mine ( attended a dinner given in Mexico ' i by the erstwhile revolutionist ) thereof, Pascual Orozco. Pascual was puzzled. He asked my friend to explain that which so mystified mysti-fied him. 'We have robbed your men, dishonored your women, killed jyoiir Children; tell me,' pleaded Pascual, 'what does an American need to make him light?' Pascual, you see, being only an Ignorant Mexican, couldn't understand why a wife or a couple of children more or less mean little lit-tle when you have a new automobile auto-mobile and a fat bank account." While we do not agree with Mr. I Roosevelt, we confess he presents an i argument which should touch the emotions emo-tions of a great many Americans, but ( there is a false chord struck. Amerl- cans had been killed and robbed, women wom-en had been dishonored and children slaughtered while Mr. Taft was president. presi-dent. That distinguished gentleman responded by sending a special message mes-sage of warning, calling on all Americans Ameri-cans to escape from the danger zone. They were Informed that a conflagration conflagra-tion was sweeping through Mexico and they wero In danger of being scorched If they waited for the flamos to reach them. Many responded; others oth-ers remained to defy the fires of anarchy and some suffered dreadrully because they were foolhardy. Who Is to blame? No constituted authority In Mexico ever fifed on an American except near Vera Cruz and at Carrizal. At Carrizal the 'fault was traced to the lll-advlsed acts of an American lieutenant, lieu-tenant, who deployed his troops and thereby committed an offensive, which was interpreted as the opening of an attack. At Rock Springs, Wyoming, tho mob killed, burned and destroyed an entire Chinatown. Hundreds of Chinamen China-men and their women were driven over tho hills and scores wero put to death. A few of the hounded Chinese Chi-nese made their way to Ogden, seeking seek-ing shelter. That outrage occurred in tho United States, in a time of profound pro-found peace, and no one ever maintained main-tained that the crime was a sufficient suffi-cient cause for war between the United States government, which was unable to prevent the atrocity, and the government of China. j The Maffia Invaded New Orleans a . number of years ago. The brigands, from out of Italy, shot and killed the chief of police and other officers of . the Louisiana city, but neither tho American people as a whole nor the ' most bloody-eyed avenger from Oyster '. Bay proposed war with Italy. Mexico Is having a tremendous struggle with outcasts, who kill Mexican Mexi-can women and men with the same disregard for life that they show when in contact with any other class or kind, white or black. Out of this mighty conflict may come peace. Let us hope so. We were four years In settling our internal hatreds. Mexico may require a longer period. But to Mexicans we must look for a final 0 happy solution. If we do not seek a task of conquest, accompanied by permanent occupancy of that country. If we are resolved on aggrandizement, then the thing to do Is to overrun Mexico. Before that Is accomplished, we shall have paid the price with ten thousand times the number of Americans Ameri-cans killed by bandits, and by the crushing sorrows and racking heartaches heart-aches of American mothers, sisters and sweethearts beyond reckoning. |