The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1914-04-24
PUNISH HUERTh,
SPARE PEOPLE
Issue Is Only With Dictator
President Declares.
U. S. is A FRIEND OF MEXICO

Such as Occurred at Tampico.
NGTON. President
Wilson began his address to the joint
session of congress at 2:05 p. m. He
said
Gentlemen of the congress:
ct is my duty to call your attention
to situation which has arisen in our
dealings with General Victoriano HUI
erta at Mexico City, which calls for
action, and to ask your advice and CO.
operation in acting upon it. On the
9th of April a paymaster of the United
States steamship Dolphin landed at
the Iturbide bridge landing at Tam
pico, with a whaleboat and boats
crew to take off certain supplies need.
cd by his ship, and while engaged in
loading the boat, was arrested by an
officer and squad of men of the army
Of General Huerta.
Released After Long Wait.
Neither the paymaster nor anyone
Of the boats crew was armed. Two
of the men were in the boat when the
arrest too place and we're obliged to
cave it and submit to be taken into
custody, Notwithstanding the fact that
the boat carried, both on it's bow and
at it's stern the flag of the United
States.
'The officer who made the arrest
WAS proceeding up one of the streets
Of the town with his prisoners when
net by an officer of higher authority,
wno ordered him to return to the
landing and await orders, and within
al hour and a half from the time OF
the arrest, orders were received from
the commander of the Huertista forces
at Tf3mpico for the release of the pay
master and his men.
THE release was followed by apol-
ugieS from the commander and later
by an expression of regreat from Gen
era! Huerta himself General Huerta
urged that martial law obtained at the
time at Tampico; that orders hau
been issued that no one should be al
lowed to land at the Iturbide bridge,
and that our sailors had no right to
land there.
Cites Admiral Mayo's Demand.
Our naval commanders at the port
had not been notified of any such pro-
hiDition, and, even if they had been,
the only justifable course open to the
local authorities would have been to
request the paymaster and his crew
to withdraw and to lodge a protest
with the commanding officer Of the
feet.
Admiral Mayo regarded the arrest
as so serious an affront that he was
not satisfied with the apologies offer
ed, but demanded that the flag of the
United States be sa1uted with special
ceremony by the military commander
Of the port.
'The incident can not be regarded
as a trivial one, especially as two OF
the men arrested were taken from
the boat itself-that is to say, from
the territory of the United States; but,
had it stood by itself, it might have
been attributed to the ignorance of a
single officer.
Unfortunately it was not an isolat-
ed case. A series of incidents have
recently occurred which can not but
create the impression that the repre-
5entatives of General Huerta were
willing to go out of their way to show
disregard for the dignity and rights
OF this government, and felt perfectly
safe in doing what they pleased, max
ing free to show in many ways their
irritation and contempt
Other insults Enumerated.
A few days after the incident at
Tampico an orderly from the u S. S.
Minnesota was arrested at Vera Cruz,
while ashore in uniform to obtain the
ships mail and was for time thrown
into Jail.
"An official dispatch from this gov
eminent to it's embassy at Mexico CITY
was withheld by the authorities. of the
Geographic service until peremptorily
demanded by our charge d'affaires in
person.
$50 far as l can learn. such wrongs
ard annoyances have been suffered
only to occur against representatives
of the United States. l have heard
OF no complaints from other govern
inents of similar treatment. Suisse
quent explanations and formal apol-
ogies did not and could not alter the
popular impression which it is pos
Sible it had been the object of the HUI
ertista authorities to create, that the
government of the United States was
being singled out and might be sin
gled out with impunity for Sights and
affronts in retaliation for it's refusal
to recognize the pretensions of Gen.
ertl Huerta to be regarded as the con
stitutional provisional president of
the republic of Mexico
Peris Are Pointed Out.
The manifest danger Of such a sit