Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1911-06-02

feelings of some of these white get
tlemen, to be called janitors They
prefer to be called messengers
suppose that is the reason for the
resolution"
The irritating feature of the clean
sweep of attendants in the house end
OF the capitol and in the house Office
building is the complete ignorance
OF their duties and surroundings
shown by the new men The capitol
is maze in which the Oldest hands
easily &C astray. The Office building
is an enormous barracks in which
mlsdlrection may give visitor
quarter of a mile walk before he
reaches his destination.
Brazen War Scare Fake.
1t is not probable that there
was ever printed in Washington
or sent out over the wires a
more brazen or more Grim
1nal fake than the very explicit war
scare of Saturday, May 6. This story
described the house committee on
military affairs as holding night meet
lngs and maintaining such exaggerated
secrecy that even the official stenog-
raphers were banished from the room
while Gen. Wood told his hair Using
tale Of pending war with Mexico. War
is inevitable" was the text of the
story, and the number of troops avail
able was told with an infinity Of de-
tail-and equal accuracy-while the
picturesque description of United
States army engineers masquerading
as mining engineers in Mexico in order
to map out roads and locate bridges
added to the artistic effect. Hobson
seeing Japanese spies swarming Ha-
wall and along our Pacific coast was
never more wrapt in his vision than
romance.
The trouble with it all is that it is
not true-if it were true, we should
have to put down many dignitaries OF
the government as liars. To begin
with, the president has categorically
stated that he will never intervene in
Mexico without action of congress, and
no representations looking toward in
tervention have been made to any coz
gressional committee
Mr.. Hays Vigorous Denial.
Representative James Hay OF VII
ginia, chairman of the house commit
tee on military affairs, is unsparing
in his denunciation of the fake and its
author. There is not a word OF
truth in it, he said heatedly. Gen
eral Wood has never said a word to
our committee nor has he been asked
to- We never held night session, nor
has the stenographer ever been asked
to leave the room. Every meeting Of
the committee has been open to the
public. | do not know of a single word
that General Wood has ever said to
the committee on which could be based
such story, the publication of which
in my opinion is positively Grim
inal."
Representative William Sulzer of
New York. long time member of the
committee on Military affairs, and now
chairman of the committee on foreign
The story would be utter bosh if
it's publication did not endanger the
relations Of amity between the two
nations said Mr.. Sulzer. 'It is suf-
fciently discredited by the explicit
denials of General Wood and Mr.. Hay.
AS a matter of fact, the administra-
ton is determined to keep out of Mex
leo, and nothing but serious and re-
peated outrages upon Americans can
shake this determination. We can't
keep intervening in every Latin-Ameri-
can country every time there is an
insurrection or a revolution. What if
the United States minister at Mexico
city does report rioting and that shop
keepers are putting up their shutters
That is no reason for us to throw
100000 soldiers into Mexico. We have
riots occasionally ourselves. Inter
vention would cost US thousands of
lives, millions of dollars and gradually
decline into a guerilla warfare which
would last for years"
General Wood denies the story in
toto. Members of the committee say
that in informal conversation the gen
eral declared recently that the pros
poets for peace in Mexico were never
brighter than now.
Why Some Desire Intervention.
But it must be kept in mind that
the temptation to intervene is strong
upon the president and stronger still
upon the politicians who surround him,
whether in the department or in con-
gress. The desire to avoid, at any
cost, Intervention and the war that
would follow is equally strong upon the
Democrats AS mere plain dispas-
sionate report of Washington it may
be stated that both Republicans and
Democrats believe that the chances of
Democratic success in the next cleo
ton are overwhelming-so Repub-
leans have unwillingly resigned them
selves to the situation, others who are
at odds with the president rather well
come it. But the strong men Of the
party, the leaders, the men who If they
die will die fighting, are contesting