The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1914-10-17
Continued romP ,
JUSTICE TO MEXICO
The Support We Gave.

tUS 0oPPOtS We &0NSS
1t is bootless now to enquire In |
how far the influences noted deter
mined the Administration action; 1t
has certainly followed their trend.
While the embargo against arms was
in force on paper, Villa and Carranza
were able to get large and frequent
consignments of American arms over
the American border, and when de-
spite this convenience they had made
little Roadway in year, the embargo
was raised, throwing open to them the
output of our factories. They were
also supplied with information from
our agents that enabled them to inter-
cept consignments to the Federals,
and after all this had failed to bring
decisive results, we seized the first
pretext to enter Vera Cruz, thus clos
ing the channel for Federal ammuni-
ton. At that time two Mexican Bish-
ops wrote strongly against American
Intervention, as they were entitled to
do. The documents were forwarded
to Washington by Mr.. Lind, in sup
port of his theory that the only ele-
ments opposed to America were the
clergy, the Catholics and the rich. An
American officer remarked to lead
ing Mexican Catholic of American
education: This is the end of you.
1t was The Niagara negotiations
which allowed the rebels to fight and
import arms, and kept the Federals
impotent, fastened the fall of Huer-
ia and the triumph of Carranza, Villa,
Zapata and the rest.
The Men We Supported.
What is the character and what the
deeds of the men whom our govern
ment has supported in the name OF
order and morality?" Villa, their
military protagonist and just now the
| likeliest contestant for supreme au-
thority, is an ignorant illiterate, had
| been for years a professional bandit
and was guilty of countless murders,
robberies and rapes. Captured by
Huerta in the campaign against OrOz-
co, he was sentenced to death for his
crimes, and General Garcia Hidalgo,
late Governor of Aguas Calientes,
was ordered to execute him. His
piteous pleas and promises moved
Huerta to relent, and he at once util-
lied his good fortune to muster
against the hand that saved him all
the bandits, outlaws, ruffians, murder
ers and ne'er-do-wells of Northern
Mexico the scum of the population. In
mastering and controlling this riff-raff
and feeding their capacity and lust, he
has alone shown genius. His military
operations are directed by General
Angeles, an able man who graduated
from the Military School of Chapul-
tepec and uses Villa as the tool of
his INSCRIPTIONS ambition. He is al
so advised by Americans, one of them
United States official, who composes
his political announcements. That
his associations have not bettered
him there is abundant evidence. This
extract is from an article dated June
% by the special correspondent of
the Outlook, his enthusiastic admirer,
describing Villas line of march:
Following the artillery we're the
women and children, 400 of the for
mer being part of the spoils of war
at Paredon. Those who were young
and pretty rode behind mounted men
or in buggies and other confiscated
vehicles, while the mothers and boys
trudged behind carrying babies,
chickens, pots, pans, etc."
Morality and Religion Outraged.
Rape and spoil and the execution
of prisoners have been the order of
the day wherever he marched and in
whatever town or city he captured,
and this has been the rule with the
other bandits and adventures who
suddenly blossomed into constitutions
al generals. Daughters were raped
openly before their parents, and
| wives before their husbands eyes;
girls were taken out of convent
schools and delivered to the lust of
| the soldiery; and right now in Mex
leo City under the Carranza regime,
} convent pupils have been forcibly
consigned to and detained in confiscat-
ed houses to which the officers, have
free entry. This is not the worst.
Their ruffianly lust has not spared
. the convent cloister; and that this
abomination has taken place frequent
ly, gloatingly, and without hindrance
or punishment, there is absolute and
shocking evidence. Such be our in
struments of morality; and the
, withdrawal of the embargo on arms
supplies Villa with ample means of
establishing it. Villas murder of
Benton was characteristic of his ca
reer. 1t became notorious only be-
? cause Benton was an English citizen
, and it is said in Mexico, and by not
; few we'll informed Americans, that
in order to placate England because
of our failure to secure satisfaction
| for this crime, and for the FORGETTING
! of her Mexican oil claims, we re-
: versed an act of Congress and relin-
, pushed our privileges in the Panama
tolls.
5 Religion has shared the fate of
: morality. Il believe in God, but not
in religion" was Villas statement to
his admirer, Mr.. Mason, the Outlook s
: staff correspondent in Mexico: 81
have recognized the priests as hypo-
: critics since l was twenty. They are
7 all frauds, the priests. L shall
do what can to take the Church out
, | nf nd m h. -