The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1914-05-07
OUR DUTY AND OUR MISSION IN
MEXICO.


Mr. Bryan In his "Commoner," dis
GUESSING the Mexican situation, says,
1.-THE question is not what we can do,
but what ought we to do 1t is both
what ought we to do and what can we
do. Might does not make right. but
might does create responsibilities and
imposes obligations. The question be-
fore the American people today Is this:
What duty, If any, does rich, strong
nation owe to weaker neighbor at
its door which IL being plundered by
banditti? An abstract question Is
sometimes more easily answered II IL Is
made concrete, a complicated question
II it is simplified.
Three men goinL up from Jericho to
Jerusalem saw by the roadside. ac-
cordng to the parable, a traveller who
had been set upon by thieves and left
beaten and half dead by the wayside.
Two of the men passed by: the third
stopped to carry succor to the wounded
stranger. This man has ever since
been known In literature the Good
Samaritan. Suppose he had passed that
way little earlier and had seen the
thieves beating and plunderlng the
stranger; would he have been bad
Samaritan If he had interfered? and a
wise Samaritan II he had said, If |
interfere my business viii be injured,
my clothes may be damaged and my
head may be broken?
For over a year our neghbor to the
south Of us has been devastated by
banditti. The rights neither of men
nor of property have been respected,
The rules of civilized warfare have been
disrgearded; prisoners have been mas
sacred, non combatants robbed and muir
dered, Our government has rightly re-
fused to recognize as a lawful govern
ment the faction which happened 10 be
I'm possession of the capital II has
pursued for over year a policy OF
watchful waiting At length this fac
ton, believing our patience to be the
result Of feebleness and fear, has in
suited our nation and refused to make
the demanded apology The incident at
Tampico was I'm itself insignificant. So
In itself is an electric spark insignfi-
cant; but this electric spark has touch
ed the accommodating indignation of the
American people. Forbearance has ceas
ed to be a virtue. No apology which
Huerta can now make will satisfy them.
They will not be satisfied until anarchy
is ended, just government Is estab-
lished. order Is restored, and life and
property are secure in Mexico.
1t is our duty to protect our fellow
citizens who reside In that banditti- rid :
den country 1t Is true that America
might years ago have notified all Amer
leans that II they left their own terri
tory they left at their own risk 1t
might have refused to protect American
seamen from impressment by Great
Britain. 1t might have refused to pro
tect American ships from Mediterranean
pirates. 1t might have thought to pro-
tect itself from war by eowardice. Bus
that has never been It's policy. 1t has
never been the policy of any civilized
nation. Our citizens In great numbers
have gone into Mexico TO develop Its
resources and work in its industries, un
der the implied assurance of our pro-
lection. 1t is impossible for us now
without dishonor. to leave them to be
plundered exiled and murdered-as
they have been by the score
We have warned off foreign nations
from interference with nations on this
side of the Atlantic. We have made
1t clear that any war on our sister re-
publics would be regarded as an act
unfriendly TO us. We have made It
protect their own citizens In Mexico
would incur our hostility. We cannot
say to England. You shall not protect
Englishmen I'm Mexico and we viii not.
We might half century ago have
abandoned the Monroe Doctrine. We
might have allowed Macmillan to es-
tablish monarchy In Mexico and left
England to demand the protection OF
her citizens from Maximilian-and his
sponsor. France. But this we did not
do The foreigners who have settled in
Mexico have settled there under our i'm
piled obligation to furnish them the
protection which we insisted their own
governments should not furnish. Now
that our obligation is brought home to
us by the persistent violation of their
rights. we cannot with honor. or indeed
with safety. cavalierly refuse to recog-
nize and fulfill that obligation.
The great masses of the Mexican peo-
pie are naturally peaceful. They are
too peaceful 1t Is because they are not
figherts that they are plundered, some
times by fragrant and undisguised law
lessness. 1t Is true that we are not go
ing to make war against the people of
Mexico. II we make war at ALL 1t will
be for the people of Mexico; 1t win be
to protect the Industrious residents. ma
tive and foreign, against men whose
sole industry is that of the bandit. II
Is true that Intervention by one nation
In the affairs of another nation should
be undertaken only In case of dire ne
cessity. But sometimes 1t ought to be
undertaken. Non intervention is the
rule, but Is not universal rule. The
European powers ought to have inter
vened to prevent the massacres of the
Armenians in Turkey. England did
right to interfere to prevent monstrous
cruelty by Belgians In the Congo.
The wrongs to our own citizens, to
the citizens of other nations and to
the Mexicans themselves clamor to us
for help. We have preserved the policy
of watchful waiting too long. We go to
Mexico not to avenge an insult, but to
fulfill a duty too long put off.
There are two views of our duty in
the present situation. which are pre-
sented in strong contrast by the respect,
i've utterances of President Wilson and