The Lamar register., 1915-09-22
Colonel Harvey on "The Tragedy of
Mexico"

An impressive indictment of the
administration policy in the conduct
of the Mexican situation is contained
in George Harvey's remarkable edi-
torial in the September North Ameri-
can Review, entitled "The Tragedy of
Mexico" Colonel Harvey traverses
the entire Mexican affair, from first to
last-logically, unsparingly, convinc-
ingly. One of the notable features of
his arraignment is the publication, for
the first time anywhere, of the official
afIidavits upon which the order for
Huerta's arrest by the United States
government was based. The afIidavits,
which are of extraordinary and cur
ious interest, are published in full.
Concerning President Wilson's per-
sonal responsibility for the dreadful
fasco which has resulted from our
Mexican policy, Colonel Harvey writes
as follows:
while it is impossible TO withhold
from the present administration pri-
mary responsibility for the deplorable
and farreaching consequences of fat
uous and futile vacillation, the genesis
Of the fault must, in all fairness, be
accorded due consideration. Nobody
has ventured, and none now would
venture, to question the excellence of
President Wilson's intentions. Thruout
all Of his backing and filling, his re-
peated intervening without making
his interference effectual, his alteTnat-
ing laying and lifting Of embargoes,
his vague threatenings promptly rem
dercd abortive by assurances that he
would not employ force, his subse-
quent using Of the army and navy
upon an abused pretext, only to with
draw them at the moment when a
restraining influence was most needed,
his petulent defying Of public journals
which We're only performing their
duty, his prospective chuckling as the
one who laughs last, his cynical aban-
doning of both Mexicans and Ameri-
cans to their fate because, forsooth,
Europeans also were spilling blood,
his strident pledging to leave the tor
tured country alone and to compel
all others to do likewise, only TO re-
sumo meddling as soon as a disfavor-
ed faction seemed likely to gain as
cendancy cy-throughout all Of these
turnings, twistings and incredibly in
consistent doings there has never
arisen a doubt of the sincerity of his
purpose to serve Mexico and to serve
mankind
"The crux Of the presidents blum
dering is to be found in his miscon-
ception of his own functions. Inn
pressed by his unprecedentely quick
elevation from a college professorship
to the most exalted political position
on earth, convinced of the popularity
of the hazy theories whose fascinating
articulation had charmed the people,
flushed by his success in subordinating
coordinate branch of government TO
his will, isolated and feared, he un-
consciously but inevitably assumed the
attitude of one divinely appointed TO
conserve humanity in new and strik-
ing ways-and forgot for the moment
that he was quite fallible and far from
omnipotent being, who in reality had
only been elected president of the
United States, charged with the per-
formance of certain official tasks spe-
officially defined by fundamental law.
at was but natural, therefore, that
when the time came he should attack
the Mexican situation as a regenerator
of the morals and ideals of a people,
instead of as an executive whose OBJ