Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-07-08
WHY
Pertinent Questions Asked and An
swered by The Outlook.

ing workers are laid off; every morning
newspaper reports the cry of the unem-
ployed; dividends are reduced or passed
altogether. The crops are promising;
conditions demand prosperity. But BUSH
ness is not good; prosperity is conspicu-
ously absent.
Why9
Mexico does not want war; the United
States does not want war; and yet we are
in state of restrained war with Mexico.
America property has been looted; scores
OF American 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 efficiency Of the
United States is diminished. That our
relations with England, Germany and
Spain are not more seriously strained is
due to their unparalleled patience. That
we are not embroiled in actual warfare
with Mexico is due to the kindly offices of
our South American neighbors. No one
wants war, and yet we are on the edge Of
war.
Why7
We have had the responsibilities and
duties Of sovereignty thrust upon us in
the Philippines. We have fulfilled those
responsibilities and performed those
duties with notable success. We have
subdued hostile tribes, made life and
property safe, banished epidemics, estab-
lished public school system, built good
roads, promoted commerce and industry,
and furnished protection to helpless
people from foreign aggression. 1t is now
to continue 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 many and the
misgovernment 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 democratic
administration does not believe in strong
government. 1t is afraid of a strong gov
eminent. 1t fears that the strong govern
ment will be despotic government. 1t
seeks refuge from that peril in weakness.
1t confronts great industrial organiza-
tons. 1t does not believe in making the
government strong enough to regulate
such organizations and compel them to
deal justly with the people. 1t therefore
endeavors to disorganize these business
them into two or more competing rivals.
Business is disorganized because it is the
avowed policy of the present democratic
administration to disorganize business.
Mexico is torn by contending factions
neither of which recognizes the necessary
conditions of peace or the modern laws of
war. This democratic administration
does not believe in maintaining govern
ment strong enough to say to both fac
tions: The laws of war toward non-com-
batants 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 inter-
NEEDLE, 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
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 Washing
ton 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 our flag in the Philippines
and retire, with confession of our weak
ness, from our uncompleted undertaking.
1t is sometimes said that it makes little
difference what men believe il their
characters are good. No one questions
the character Of President Wilson and his
advisers. Their intentions are excellent;
their spirit is patriotic. But they believe
that strong government is perilous to an
individual liberty, that in weakness is
safety. 1t is this belief which has invited
disaster at home, brought dishonor in
Mexico, and now summons us to retreat
from the Philippines. Consistently ap-
piled, it would withdraw our flag from
Hawaii and Porto Rico, abandon our pro-
tectorate in Cuba, and transform the
Panama canal into an international high
way, owned, regulated, and policed by an
international commission.
The American people have the oppor-
tunity this fall to elect House of Repre-
sentatives which believes in a strong gov
eminent - able to control the great in
dustrial organizations at home, able to
protect persons and property in Mexico,
and able to carry to splendid consum-
nation the national work so splendidly
commenced in the philippipes IL is for