The Oskaloosa herald., 1914-06-25
ROOSEVELT ON Viii SON


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 disorganized New en-
teTprises are not begun; old enter
prises 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 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 ef-
ficiency of the United States is dim
nished. That our relations with Eng
land Germany and Spain are not more
seriously strained is due to their un-
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 sponsibilities and perform
ed those duties with notable success.
We have substituted law for anarchy,
and a 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
"a 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
peaceful citizens from the ignorance
of the few, and to leave this people
Iunaided 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. 1t is
afraid of a strong government. 1t
fears that the strong government will
be a despotic government. 1t seeks
refuge from that peril in weakness.
1T Confronts great industrial org
Limitations. 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-
ganze these business organizations
and convert each one of them into
two or more competing rivals. Bust
ness is disorganized because it is the
IaVowed policy of the present Demo
cratic administration to disorgani2e
business.
Mexico is torn by contending fac
tions, neither of which recognizes the
necessary conditions of peace or the
modern laws of war This Democratic
administration does not believe in
maintaining a 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
American 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
it has begun. 1t therefore proposes
that the United States enter into one
of those entangling alliances with
foreign nations against which Wash
ington 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
of 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 ii makes
little difference what men believe If
their characters are good. No one
questions the character of President
Wilson and his advisers. Their in
tentions are excellent; their spirit is
patriotic. But they believe that a
strong government is perilous to in
dividual liberty, that in weakness is
safety. II is this belief which has in.
vited disaster at home, brought dis.
honor in Mexico, and now summons
us to retreat from the Philippines.
Consistently applied, 1t would with
draw our flag from Hawaii and Porto
Rico, abandon our protectorate In
Cuba, and transform the Panama
Canal into an international highway,
owned, regulated and policed by an
international commission.
The American people have the op-
portunity this fall to elect House
of Representatives which believes in
a strong government-able to control /
the great Industrial organization at