The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1914-04-23

these words:
Gentlemen of the Congress-: 1t is
my duty to call your attention to
situation which has arisen in our
dealings with General Victoriana
Huerta, at Mexico City, which calls
for action, and to ask your advice
and cooperation in acting upon it.
On the 9th day of April paymaster
OF the United States steamship Dol
phin landed at the Iturbide bridge
landing at Tampico with a whale
boat and boats crew to take off GER
tain supplies needed by his ship, and
while engaged in loading the boat,
was arrested by an officer and squad
of men of the army of General Huer-
ta Neither the paymaster nor any
one of the boats crew was armed.
Two of the men were in the boat
when the arrest took place, and were
obliged to leave it and submit to be
taken into custody, Notwithstanding
the fact that the boat carried, both
at her bow and at her stern, the flag
of the United States
Story of the Insult.
THE officer who made the arrest,
was proceeding up one of the streets
of the town with his prisoners when
met by an officer of higher authority,
who ordered him to return to the
landing and await orders, and, with
in an hour and half from the time
of the arrest, orders were received
from the commander of the Huer-
tista forces at Tampico for the re-
lease of the paymaster and his men.
This release was followed by apollo
gies from the commander, and later
by expression of regret by General
Huerta himself General Huerta
urged that martial laws obtained at
the time at Tampico, that orders had
been issued that no one should be al
lowed to land at the Iturbide bridge,
and that our sailors had no right to
land there. Our naval commanders
at the port had not been notified of
any such prohibition, and, even if
they mad been, the only justifiable
course open to the local authorizes
would have been to request the pay
master and his crew to withdraw and
to lodge a protest with the comman-
der of the feet. Admiral Mayo re-
garded the arrest as so serious an af-
front that he was not satisfied with
the apologies offered, but demanded
saluted with special ceremony b. the
Serious Incidents.
"The incident cannot be regarded
as trivial one, especially as two OF
the men arrested were taken from
the boat itself-that is to say, from
the territory of the United States;
but had it stood. by itself, it might
have been attributed to ignorance or
arrogance of single officer. Unfor-
tunately, it was not an isolated case.
A series of incidents have recently
occurred which cannot but create the
impression that the representatives
of General Huerta were willing to go
out of their way to show disregard
for the dignity and rights of this
government and felt perfectly safe
in doing what they pleased, making
free to show in many ways their ir-
ritation and contempt.
A few days after the incident at
Tampico an orderly from the United
States ship Minnesota was arrested at
Vera Cruz, while ashore in uniform
to obtain the ships mail and was
for a time thrown in jail. An official
dispatch from this government to
it's embassy at Mexico City was with
held by the authorities of the tele-
graphic service until peremptOrily
demanded by our charge d'affaires in
person. So far as l can learn, such
wrongs and annOyances have been
suffered only to occur against repre-
sentatives of the United States. |
have heard of no complaints from
other governments OF similar treat
ment. Subsequent explanations and
formal apologies did not and could
not alter the popular impression,
which it is possible it had been the
object of the Huertista authorities to
create, that the government OF the
United State was being singled out
and might be singled out with i'm
punity for Sights and affrOnts in re-
taliation for it's refusal to recognize
the pretensions Of General Huerta
to be regarded as the constitutional
provisional president of the republic
Of Mexico.
Apology Should be Complete.
"The manifest danger of such a
situation was that such offenses
might grow from bad to worse until
something happened of so gross and
intolerable sort as to lead directly
and inevitably to armed conflict. 1t
was necessary that the apologies of
General Huerta and his representa-
tives should go much further, that
they should be such as to attract the
attention of the whole population to
their significance, and such as to
impress upon General Huerta him
self the necessity of seeing to it that
no further occasion for explanations
and professed regrets should arise.
/, therefore, felt it my duty to sus-
tain Admiral Mayo in the whole of
his demand and to insist that the
flag of the United States should be
saluted in such way as to indicate
new spirit and attitude on the part
of the Huertaists. Such a salute by
Huerta has been, refused. and have
come to ask your approval and sup
port in the course I now purpose to
pursue.
This government can, earnestly
hope, in no circumstances be forced
into war with the people of Mexico.