Arizona republican., 1898-05-02
A PLEA FOR TOLERANCE.

To the Editor of The Republican,
 Sir: It is with deep regret that I, an American. behold a body of Ameri- can citizens forced to hold mass meeting for the purpose of protesting against being branded as traitors to their adopted flag, under whose pro-
 tceting folds they live and prosper and whose honor they have sworn to defend. To hear of this demonstra- tion one would little think that this is the progressive and enlightened nine teenth century; rather, it calls us back to the days of Puritanism, of intoler- ance and blue laws. l speak in refer ence to the mass meeting of Mexican Americans, held at the court house on Wednesday night. In an attempt to verify the report of an insult to the flag the most painstaking inquiry has failed to unearth the slightest trace of the two Mexican clerks who aroused the ire of our local patriots. May not
 this incident have been little exag
 gerated, at least, or might a local
 pocket edition of Ananias have given this out to the excitable public to test the public pulse? It behooves us not to be hasty in this matter, and a little
 cool headed reasoning in this connec- tion would do us no harm. Why should the MeXicans be dis,cyal? Why
 should they kiss the rod that stung them and sympathize with the nation
 that held them in cruel bondage for
 nearly three centuries? From the landing of Cortez in their sunny land
 till the advent of the immortal iIi-
 dalgo, the Mexican people groanei un-
 der a government with which Cuban horrors make us well acquainted. Naturally, does it lock reasonable that after all this the Mexican-Amerl- cans should bethink them of the tics
 of blood" and have the love of Spain
 awakened in their breasts?" We pa tr1otic and liberty-Ioving people of America pat ourselves upon the back
 and say: ''We won our freedom from the clutch of England, and fought with
 Inferior forces at our commanl for
 three years to do it. Yet the Mexi- cans whom we denounce as unpatri- otic, to achieve the same end. fought thlrten long years Of rapine and nor TOT against a foe with whom 1he
 bounds of civilized warfare had no re- straint; and to whom robbery was inst
 ana murder fixed principle. Yet we say they do not need an answer Be- cause the Mexicans do not emulate | the curbstone orator who howIs for warm Spanish gore, and who osteuta- tiously thirsts fer the noise of com
 bat, who possibly hired a substitute in the late unpleasantness to face the confederate bullets and repel the in vaders, who would haul down his country's f1ag-because of this. I say. we brand them as traitors and say they are no patriots. It is not the anticipated eloquence of the school
 boy or the irresponsible spoutings of those brave CD and patriotic. CD young gentlemen who would faint at the smell of gunpowder, but the quiet, cool-headed man who "saws wood and keeps his powder dry" who in defense of his country's honor offers his life and asks for no calcium light to be thrown on the sacrifice; this is the cid fashioned patriot, and the man we need. Can you prove that the Mexi- can is not an old fashioned patriot? On such as these does OUT country de- pend in her need, and she will not find them broken reed to lean upon. We also hear people who do not know