Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-06
AMERICANISM

porary and friend hits the nail on
" the head when it says in an article
protesting against the publication of
the American Magazine article entitled
"Barbarous Mexico:
LET some one try the same thing
upon the United States, and what sort
of a people could he not make us
appear? Suppose he should gather care
fully all the facts, to say nothing of
rumors and hearsay, about our lynch
ings, and dilate upon the fact-the
truth, too-that this is the one country
in the world laying the slightest claim
to being civilized where in the closing
days of the nineteenth and the opening
days of the twentieth century a man
accused or guilty of crime has been
burned alive as a punishment, either
legally or illegally; suppose he gath
cred all the stories as to municipal COR
ruption throughout the land, and all
the blunders, malicious prosecutions and
miscarriage of justice in our courts,
and a few other things along these
lines, and published the whole under the
caption, The Barbarous United States
not giving anything on the other side
of the question, what idea would for
eigners have of US after reading it?"
What Is Saul also among the proph-
cts?
If conditions in Mexico are not what
they ought to be, and if the same re-
mark may be made concerning the
United States, and if the Mexicans wish
to get back at us for publishing Bar
barous Mexico" not only can they
cover the ground indicated by our Re-
publican friend, but they can proceed
to show this is the only civilized nation
in which a definite promise is made to
the well behaved, decent, law abiding
citizen that he shall have his living as
well as his liberty absolutely guar
anteed; and can compare the first and
foundational principles Of Americanism
with the actual facts in the case.
It would be only too easy to show
this nation, both governmentally and
socially, holds in extreme and habitual
contempt and neglect the great Ameri-
can principle which attracted new citi-
zens from the ends of the earth; that
principle which recognizes the inalien-
able right of every human being to edrn
a living all the year round. In Mexi-
can "Tu Quoque" it would be easy to
cite instances and give quotations
showing this nation, when demonstrated
with. talks of the claw of economic
determinism," which ought to have a
minor place in a country that should
govern itself humanely, lovingly and
intelligently, and should not suffer itself
to be ruled by the Fates and the Furies.
America was established as a new
country, with new ideas, the first and
greatest of which was the nation must
guarantee what President Roosevelt
in modern times has called a square
deal for everybody.
We are tired of hearing damnable
iteration of the mistaken and deluded
opinion this country was founded solely
on an economic basis. 1t was not.
Industrialism is a modern evolutionary
development, but it does not abrogate
Americanism any more than 1t annuls
the Ten Commandments. And if the
Republic is to continue to live and pros
per, to flourish, great and free. indus
trialism must accommodate itself to
Americanism and recognize and RE-
sPECT the following sELF-EVIDENT
TRUTHS:
"ALL men are created EQUAL. They
are endowed by their Creator with GER
tain UNALIENABLE RIGHTS. Among
these are LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE
PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. To Sc
CURE THESE RIGHTS governments
are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of
the governed"