The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-08-14
THE REAL POINT OF DANGER.

We have insisted right along in this
Mexican business and the way it is
conducted by the present administra-
ton. that so far as the provoking of
war is concerned. the great danger is
right in Washington. We hear much
about the sensational press doing this
or that towards the creation and fos-
tering Of animosity on the part Of Mex
leo against the United States, But
as a rule the press is mild, ard in
fact all that is a negligible proposition,
There has been so little in the press OF
the United States calculated to stir up
trouble between this country and Mex
leo, there has been such unanimous
sentiment that the administration will
be supported in all its efforts for peace,
and even in its efforts for war, if it
should como to such an evil pass, that
the administration really has no cause
to find fault with the press Of the
United States on this question. As to
the charge of President Wilson that
there is an organized conspiracy in this
country TO bring ou war with Mexico,
we remain of the opinion heretofore eI-
pressed that no such conspiracy could
have even fraction of the influence
toward war that the curious and un-
precedcuted moves Of this administra
ton are provocative in the same direc
tion.
Supporting this view, the New York
Evening Post, which is a firm Wilson
organ, points out that Washington Is
not tho smallest of the danger points in
the Mexican situation;' and it con-
demns foolish talk aud wild proposals
in Congress and in semi-official admin
istration circles. All of which is per
tinont enough, but it does not quite 90
to the point, for the great provocation,
the one which Mexico has the right
chiefly TO complain Of, is the attitude
of President Wilson himself in ignor-
ing Mexican protests. when he would
not dream of ignoring like protests
from any European power, and his
treatment of Mexico as practically a
dependency of the United States. He
undertakes to decide that provisional
President Huerta is not lawfully or
government; he undertakes to say what
sort of election must be had in Mexico,
to establish the sort Of government that
be would recognize. He even proposes
TO take the control of such election out
of the hands OF the Mexican authorities
and place it somewhere else.
All this is necessarily a cause Of re.
sentful complaint on the part Of the
Mexican people, and inevitably breeds
irritation and fosters friction. A
straightforward course on the part Of
the administration, which would recog-
nize existing facts and concede to the
Mexican government the de facto char
acter which it has established for itself.
a character which has been sufficient to
secure the recognition of Great Britain,
France and other powers, would at once
clear the situation and remove any pos
sible cause for trouble. And since Great
Britain and France have not only rec
ognized the Huerta government, but
have arranged to lend it a large sum
Of money, 1t seems not only ungracious
but iuvidious on our part to hold out
against such recognition, AS long as
we do hold out and undertake TO es-
tablish a sort of tutelage over the
Mexican republic and people and to lay
down rules for their guidance, it is idle
for the officialdom at Washington to
complain about the evils of the seusa-
tional press and the conspiracy to en-
broil this country in war with Mex
leo; for, those presumptuous claims are
in themselves sufficient to excuse de-
fiant war Of resistance