The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-09-06
SENATOR CATRON
DUBBED PROPHET
James B. Morrow Writes
About the Gentleman from
New Mexico.
LOOKS AHEAD OF u. S.
An Inland Man. He Declares Nation
Must Build Up Her Merchant
Marine.
LOOKS AHEAD OF U. S.
BY JAMEs B. MORROW.

By JAMES b. MORROW.
An inhabitant on the Mexican frontier
for nearly half a century, Senator
Thomas B. cetron is qualified for proph-
ecy Riding in a freighter from Kansas
City to Santa Fe, Immediately after the
civil war. he nemorized a Spanish gram
mar so that he could repeat 1t backward
and forward, or either way. starting in
the center OF the book.
For fve years he lay awake every
night conjugating Spanish verbs. He has
addressed a thousand juries in the Span
ish language and has made a thousand
political speeches in the same tongue. He
understands Mexican history and MeXi-
can temperament and character.
The constitutionalists.' he told me-
have marched into Mexico City. Order
perhaps, will be restored. Americans
will say: AT last that problem has been
solved and will give US no further con-
Germ Again as in most recent Mexican
matters. we Americans will be wrong.
Three months from the time the con-
stitutionalists occupied Mexico City. a
presidential election will be held. The
new president will be inaugurated and
the people will I'LL the streets and will
cheer and wave their pointed hats ana
flags The next day they will begin fl
= north and the south. There will be
many thousands OF them-and they will
be noisy. insolent, and threatening.
Claims will be presented for services
in the ranks under Madero. Villa. and
Carranza Most Of the claims will be of
that nature. We fought the claimants
will say. and now we want our wages
There will be eXtravagant claims TO-
property destroyed or coniscated. The
claims will not be paid: they cannot be
paid because the treasury will be empty.
"A dozen-maybe fifty-revolutions will
Immediately be put under way. The men
who were in arms will have kept Their
guns and gone home with all the ammu-
milton they could carry. They will come
forth. Bands OF revoutionists and rob-
beers will swarm in all parts of the coun-
try. Worse things than have happened
so far will sollow Such is the picture I
see in the future"
Not Through with Me1IcO.''
What. then. must be done? The an
swer is obvious. Mexico is our neighbor.
Europe. furthermore says we are re-
sPonsible. inasmuch as We decline to per
nit Europe to interfere on this side O.
the Atlantic We have already thrust
our mailed hand into Mexican affairs.
We have occupied a part of the republic
with our fighting men.
L
morally or politically. to turn back. We
shall have to set up a government in
Mexico. as we established A government
in Cuba and once il is set up it must he
maintained by force Of arms. We are
not through with Mexico. Indeed w
have hardly begun our work in that coun-
try. Our people should understand the
situation There * lul now in the
sweep Of disagreeable and dangerous
events but there has been no settlement.
Sooner or later the United States must
act and those Of us who do not realize
the fact are lacking in common sense.
Also" Senator Catron went on to say.
there are great questions al home, chief
among which is 1he pitiful spectacle we .
cur at sea We are one Of the mighty
nations so we boast but no nation Is
mighty that has thousands of miles CT
ocean coast. the ports of which are !
empty o. ships carrying its own flag
above its own goods.
Il say that the United. States IS dis
Ersce1 because it has no merchant ma
rine Santa F.. away of in New Mexico.
is my home. I am an inland man. liv-
ing in the mountains midway between
the Gulf Of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean.
hut my ewes are good enough to see all
of our harbors. east and west. north and
south. gay with flags at foreign masts.
Ever, time any one introduces a bill
article in behalf OF our vanished ship
ping political Ines. like pistol or a
CaEger are drawn on him and stuck in
his face forthwith. Our wheat. corn. cot
ton. meats. and manufactured articles
are going to foreign markets in foreign
ships. Is that political? I declare that
il is idiotic.
Says Dead Men Can't Lend.
Men drag in their old moth-eaten doc
trims and say: We cant do so and so
without sacrilege to Andrew Jackson or
Thomas Jefferson. Other men substitute
the names Of Alexander Hamilton and
Daniel Webster. respect Jefferson and
jackson and Hamilton and Webster. but
they are dead and no voice from the
tomb. IS competent TO direct a battle be-
tween living men, and the struggle today
or business Is a battle worldwide and
r-ithout compassion.
Listen to a single amazing illustration.
We give the owners Of foreign vessels
the sum Of Sl5O,C0nooO annually for trans
porting our products to the markets of
Europe The money is in gold I would
like to hear King Solomon. said to be the
wisest man who ever lived give an off,
hand opinion of the American people in
this connection. One hundred and fifty
million dollars would build 100 ocean car
riers.
The freights Of one year. in other
words, would construct a fleet Of 1o0
vessels made Of American materials by
American workmen. Is the farmer in
terested? He is. The farmer paws for
having his wheat or cotton taken to Eu-
rope. Freights are subtracted from the
price he receives. and the freights go into
foreign pockets. Is the farmer an ass? {
No: he cannot help himself. Is the manu-
tacturer an ass? My reply answers both
questions.
Foreign ships are cheaply built and
cheaply operated. Then foreign nations
substitute their vessels. Their ships go
through the Suez Canal, pay tolls and |
the tolls paid are returned to the
owners Of the ships. Moreover. foreign
nations will give back the money their
ships pay in passing through the Panama
Canal. Also, the United States is pay
Ing many millions Of dollars yearly for
having its nails-letters written in this :
country, you understand-carried to Eu- }
rope by European vessels. !
I'VE Need Common Sense"
oh, well, have said enough, it seems v
l..