The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1914-04-30
A WAR THAT'S
NOT A WAR
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT AT
WASHINGTON HEARS IN.
TEREsTING DEBATE
WHILE THE SENATE TALKS SAILORS ACT
And Stars and Stripes Float Over Mex.
lean Seaport-PoIicies Of Wilson
and Bryan Are Played

The following interesting write-up
of the debate in the senate over Presi-
dent Wilson's war resolution" is con.
tributed by ]. E. Jones, correspondent
of the Register at the national capital:
While a country was impatiently
waiting for the senate of the United
States to pass a resolution unfolding
the action of the President in using
armed force in Mexico, that great
body vas deliberately choosing a path
way to be travelled which would leave
the record of congress absolutely plain.
The president had admonished con-
gress that it must under no circum-
stances commit the American govern
ment to war" upon Mexico. The
action of the United States was to be
directed, according to the president,
against the Huerta pronounced
Wherta) faction, which Washington
has refused to recognize as a govern
ment. The president told congress in
his speech: 81 come to ask your ap-
prevail" And before that approval
was obtained Vera Cruz was in the
hands of the American navy.
We sat in the senate gallery through
the afternoon, and the long night, and
watched n of the greatest scenes
enacted in that chamber since the
Spanish-American war. Some people
may say that the republicans sought
to make a partisan issue, and if such
was the intention they certainly have
left a clear record. The administra-
ton forces stood firm for the resolu.
ton that came from the committee,
and which, it was charged, was writ
ten on a White House typewriter"
This resolution justified" the presi-
dent, because of the refusal Of Huerta
to salute the Stars and Stripes, and
for two or three minor instances of
official insult by Huerta. On this plat
form the democrats stood pat. The
republicans in their resolutions-the
principal one of which was that intro
duced by Senator Lodge, recited the
generally chaotic conditions of Mexi-
co, and held that these conditions
should form the basis of our action
against Huerta. Many asserted that
the instances cited by the president
did not furnish a good reason for the
use of armed force, and several sens
tors took the ground that the apology
in the form offered by General Huerta,
was all that the United States should
demand. There was no thought, or
charge, in that chamber, that the sena-
tors were Quibbling, and when the
minority resolutions were all defeated,
the republicans had made their point
plain that it vas only the method of
approval for which they fought, and
the senate at 3:15 in the morning sus
tanned the president absolutely-only
thirteen members voting against the
resolution offered by administration.
II the latest move in Mexico is sue
cessful 1t will be said that a united
and patriotic congress upheld the
president" If our Mexican policy is a
failure then the republicans in the
next campaign will produce the record
made h vthem IN Law all the blame on
the democratic administration. Call
this patriotism, politics, or what you
will-nevertheless that's the way it
was fixed in congress.