The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1914-06-25
ROOSEVELT ON WILSON

Impossible that the editorial is a
forecast of the line of attack he will
pursue in his campaigning this year
The editorial, which bears the title
"Why?" is in full as follows:
Business is dsorganized. New en-
terprises are not begun; old enter
pTises are curtailing their business;
willing workers are laid off every
morning newspapers report the cry
Of the unemployed; dividends are re-
duced or passed altogether. The crops
are promising; conditions demand
prosperity. But business is not good;
prosperity is conspicuously absent
why?
Mexico does not want war; the
United States does not want war;
and yet we are in a state of restrain
ed war with Mexico American prop
erty has been looted; scores of Amer
lean citizens have been killed. The
American flag has furnished no pro-
lection; for protection Americans
have fed to the English and German
flags. The hostility of the Mexicans
to the United States is increased;
their respect for the courage and eff
ficiency of the United States is dim
lllloISu. hdL Jul ICldllOlo Will
land Germany and Spain are not more
seriously strained is due to their I'M
paralleled patience. That we are not
embroiled in actual warfare with Mex
leo is due to the kindly offices of our
South American neighbors. No one
wants war, and yet We are on the
edge of war.
"Why?"
We have had the responsibilities
and duties of sovereignty thrust upon
us in the Philippines. We have fulfill.
ed those responsibilities and perform
ed those duties with notable success.
We have substituted law for anarchy,
and domestic government partially
representative for a foreign govern
ment wholly despotic. We have sub
dued hostile tribes, made life and
property safe, banished epidemics, es
tablished a public school system, built
good roads, promoted commerce and
industry and furnished protection TO
helpless people from foreign ag-
gression. 1t is now proposed to ack-
nowledge ourselves unable to contin-
ue that protection without aid, and
to invite Japan and Great Britain to
share with US in furnishing it; to
abandon the attempt to protect the
peaceful citizens from the ignorance
of the few, and to leave this people
unaided to struggle their way as best
they can from childhood to maturity.
Why?
The answer is simple This dem
ocratic administration does not be.
lieve in a strong government. II is
afraid of strong government. 1t
fears that the strong government will
be deSpotic government. 1t seeks
refuge from that peril in weakness.
1T confronts great industrial org
anizations. 1t does not believe in max
ing the government strong enough to
regulate such organizations and COM
pell them to deal justly with the peo-
pie. 1t therefore endeaVOrs to disOr-
ganize these business organizations
and convert each one of them into
two or more competing rivals. Bust
ness is disorganized because it is the
aVOwed policy of the present Demo
cratic administration to disOrgani2e
business.
Mexico is torn by contending fac
tons, neither of which recognizes the
necessary conditions of peace or the
modern laws of war. This Democratic
administration does not believe in
maintaining government strong
enough to say to both factions: The
laws of war toward noncombatants
must and shall be obeyed. So it looks
on appalled, but inert while bandits
plumber and assassins murder. 1t will
persuade, but not enforce; it will in.
termeddle, but not intervene.
1T looks across the ocean and sees
an island people under the protection
Of the American flag, learning under
tuition the lesson of self.
government But it does not believe
that the United States government is
or should be strong enough to protect
and instruct a people on the other
side of the globe. 1t believes that this
nation neither has nor ought to have
the power to complete the task which !
1t has begun. 1t therefore proposes
that the United States enter into one
Of those entangling alliances with |
foreign nations against which Wash |
ngton warned his countrymen, pay |
for this alliance by disavowing the |
right of the United States to control |
the canal built by the money of the |
United States through the territory |
1f the United States, and then pull |
down the flag in the Philippines and |
retire, with confession of our weak
ness, from our uncompleted undertake
ing.
1t is sometimes said that it makes
little difference what men believe if |
heir characters are good. No one
questions the character of President
Wilson and his advisers. Their in
entions are excellent their spirit is
patriotic. But they believe that a
strong government is perilous to in
iividual liberty, that in weakness is
'afety. 1t is this belief which has in
'ited disaster at home, brought dis.
lonor in Mexico, and now summons
is to retreat from the Philippines
applied, it would with
raw our flag from Hawaii and Porto
tico, abandon our protectorate in
Cuba, and transform the Panama
ANAL into an international highway,
wned, regulated and policed by an
International commission.
The American people have the op-
'ortunity this fall to elect a House /,
II Representatives, which believes In
strong goyernment-able to control
he great Industrial organiza ffnn af