The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1911-03-23
THE WAR SCARE.
Everybody Deeply Interested.
Any Old Fake Story Eagerly
Dev0ured.

but little more excitement than has pre-
vailed in Washington during the last III
days. Level-headed men contemplate
the situation with amaZement- In gov
ornamental matters the city has been as
calm as in a vacation period. The De-
partments ceased speedily to be sources
for much of the alarmiSt reports which
have been disseminated broadcast, but
one incident after another has none the
less kept the Washington date line
much in evidence in connection with the
'manuvers" on the Texas border.
The inevitable inference is that the
country is crazy for war. Correspond
ents in Washington have been made to
realize this by the demands of their
home offices for war news. Of. course.
San Antonio and other Texas points
where the troops have been assembling
has furnished a lot of the first-page
stuff, which apparently the public must
have at its breakfast table. Then sew
eraI MeXicans of note have been in New
York. both supporters of President Diaz
and of Francisco I. Madero. leader of
thefnsurrectos. Their doings have fur
nished some more front-page stuff for
the dailies, and most strenuous efforts
have been put forth to enable Washing
ton to contribute a share.
Daily a great food of all kinds of ru-
mors has fioated in here and had 70 be
proven true or false. Another great di-
vision of the Army was to be ordered
to the Texas border. There could be
no question about the secret plans And
yet it required several days of stringent
denials to beat that rumor down. As a
matter of fact, there are millions of
people in the United States who do not
believe il yet. The militiamen of nu-
merous States have been making ready
TO move to the front in spite of positive
statements from the War Department,
jterated and reiterated, that the militia
will not be called out, cannot, in fact,
be called out under the law at present.
The Japanese War Scare.
Just as soon as the war fever had
moved the temperature.in the body poll
itic to a high pitch our old friend, the
Japanese war scare, began to parade
thruout the land. Wild-eyed reporters
able evidences that the Japanese had
designs in Mexico and all that sort of
tommyrot Some claimed to know of
a treaty by which Japan had rights in
the State of Baja California, whereby
they could land troops and sailors. All
these dispatches were eventually re-
ferred to Washington for confirmation,
and were promptly shown to be without
But what did denials
amount to with a frenzied public, crazy
for military operations? iaat..a.-l,
A great portion of the reading public
want the stories to be true. The very
people who a few months ago were
laughing at the German war scare in
England have been going just as daffy
themselves about the yarns that the
japanese had deep and dark designs on
our western coast, against which they
would operate thru Mexico. no sooner
had these Japanese war scares gotten
well under way before lot of nobodies,
who claim TO be military experts. saun-
tered forth with remarkable interviews.
Some of them were in Germany, putting
it down as a fact that this country
might just as well get ready to give
Japan a licking. Othar war-scare au-
thorities vouchsafed advice that Japan
must attack and destroy the United
States before the Panama Canal is COM
pleted.
Every Sort of an Old Tale. +
With such credulity rampant every
sort of an old tale can get prominent
Iy some of the Mexican revolutionary
agents have been active here in Wash
ington. One James d. Ifallen, now
claimed to be former convict, was in
on some kind effan GRAND
of detective character He was seen
in the vicinity of the law offices of Capt
S. G. Hopkins, who does 4 lot of legal
work for Central and South(American
people. The word was sounded forth
that Hallen. had tried to get into Hop
kins's Offices, where he hoped to obtain
papers that have to do with operations
of the Mexican insurrectionists. Biff
bang! Hallen was detected, and Hallen
was arrested, supposedly as the agent
of the Mexican Government. But the
authorities shortly let him go after
Washington, as well as a considerable
portion of the country. had had a fine
thrill. The Mexican ambassador, Senior
de la Barra, issued denials. in person
Other people issued '1enials. Piff, paff,
pouf! What time before Halleil dig
appeared and the public bounced upon,
new in the way Of war SEN
sations. .---..-
But the things already mentioned
have been only small morseitas COM
pared with the feast OF sensationalism
DR.. Francesca Vasquez, the insurgent
representative of Mexico -Washing-
ton, has had a daily output, and has
become quite as important a parsonage
in denials, assertions and pronuncia-
mehtos as the Mexican ambassador
Senior de Ia Barra, himself. Hardly a
day has passed without The arrest of
some citizen Of the United States in
10 the State Department, demands for
a fair trial and warnings against any
summary shooting of American citizens
to the soIth of the Rio Grande But
all the while Secretary of State Knox is
down in Florida fishing, and the AS
sistant Secretaries of State gIoat nom
over the fine opportunities for
getting their names into the newspapers
in connection with denials and assever-
atoms. --., s5- -
Roosevelt Not In II.
In spite of the several serious and
regrettable aspects of such frenzied
situation there Is the humorous side.
For instance, Col. Theodore Roosevelt,
called by his critics and admirers one
of the best advertisers In all the Ameri-
cas-, had emerged from Winter quarters
and was making a spectacular sort of
trip across the continent down into
Arizona, where a great irrigation dam.
named after him, was to be opened
Presumably there was politics in the
transcontinental tour of the Hon. Theo-
dore. He was to travel after Congress
had adjourned, and under normal con-
ditions the newspapers could pay a lot
of attention to him. He has been max
ing speeches galore, many of them good
reading matter, but where is the citizen.
who can tell where the ex-Presidert
has been or what he has said? He has
been engulfed in the war scare, and no.
body seems to be paying any attention
to him or to his propaganda
Undoubtedly Col. Theodore feels II
keenly, but he is credited with having
events in his day in like
fashion. OF course, President Taft
hardly manipulated the manuvers to
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