Mexico weekly ledger., 1915-03-04
STAND BY WILSON SAYS
FORMER PRESIDENT TAFT
Country's Neutrality and Trade With
Belligerents Is Seriously Threat
ened Today.
ARMS EMBARGO is HARMFUL
He Believes All Citizens Are Loyal
To Their AdOptd Land No Mat
ter Nationality.

In an address before the Washing
ton Association Of New Jersey, il
Morristown, this week, ex-Presiden
Taft reiterated more strongly thai
ever that the entire country shoul,
stand by President Wilson in his pol
| icy toward the European war and tn,
warning nations.
The United States, he declared, i
threatened with a serious invasion
Of its rights as a neutral by the bel
ligerents, and in preserving its com
merce with those nations is face b
face with crisis. In that crisis
should 1t arise, said Mr.. Taft, nc
jingo spirit should prevail; neither
pride nor monetary passion should
influence the country's Judgment.
Stand by President.
"We must abide" he said, "by the
Judgment of those to whom we have
intrusted the authority, and wher
the President shall act, we must
stand by him to the end. In this de-
termination we may be sure that all
will Join, no matter what their pre-
viOus views, no matter what their
European origin. All will forget their
differences in self-sacrificing loyalty
to our common flag and our common
country"
The former President also repeat
ed his conviction that no embargo
should be laid upon exports of arms.
Quoting from the reservation made
by the Senate in the Treaty of AL
geciras in 1907, which reiterated the
traditional American policy of nom
interference in European political
questions, Mr.. Taft said:
"Our interest in the present war,
therefore, should be limited as set
forth in this reservation, to wit; TO
preserving and increasing the COM
merce of the United States with the
belligerents; to the protection as to
life, liberty and prosperity of our cit
izens residing or travelling in their
countries, and to the aiding by our
friendly offices and efforts in bring
ing those countries to peace
"our efforts for peace have been
made as complete as possible, for the
President has already rendered his
good Offices by way of mediation be-
tween the powers, and they have not
been accepted.
"In preserving the commerce of the
United States with the belligerents,
however, we are face to face with a
crisis. We are threatened with SER
ious invasion of our rights as neu-
trails in trading with the belligerent
countries. What certainly is an inno-
walton upon previous rules in respect
to neutral commerce and contraband
Of war has been initiated by belig-
erents of both sides.
Variation From Rules.
''The planting Of mines in the open
sea and the use of submarines 10 send
neutral vessels to the bottom with
out inquiry as to their neutrality
when found in so-called war zone
Of the open sea, are all of them
variation from the rules of interna-
national law governing the action of
belligerents toward neutral trade.
when their violation results in the
destruction of the lives of American
citizens or of American property
a grave issue will arise as to what
the duty of this government is.
The responsibility of the President
and Congress in meeting the critical
issue thus presented in maintaining
our national rights and our national
honor on the vne nand, with due re-
gard to the awful consequences to
our 9O,000,0OO people of engaging in
this horrible world war, on the other
will be very great.
at involves on their part judg-
ment so momentous in its conse-
quences that we should earnestly pray
that the necessity for it may be
averted.
"If, however, the occasion arises we
can be confident that those in au-
thority will be actuated by the high
est patriotic motives and by the deep
est concern for our national well
fare. We must not allow our pride
or mOmentary passion to influence
our judgment. We must exercise the
that the fateful conse-
quences in the loss of our best blood
and enormous waste of treasure
would necessarily impose upon us.
We must allow no jingo spirit to pre-
vail"
He then called on all citizens to
support President Wilson as quoted
above.
Attacks on President.
Mr.. Taft reviewed at length the
course Of Washington in preserving
neutrality during the war between
France and England, and referred to
partisans of one or another of the
present belligerents who attack
President Wilson because he has been
faithfully following the example set
and the admonitiOns given by our
first President"
m r. n1- Il