The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1916-08-18
Amsrio .nisn Hughes Plea.


| expedition. OF course, II could not
| succeed. OF course we got into trou.
BILE, and more blood was she'd
MY friends, We have made people
dislike us, because we did not have a
straight and clear path. The path of
international right is like the path of
the just that shineth here more and
more into the perfect day. 1t does not
make any difference who your. oppon.
the orchard of''his fathers EexhSor,
and the irate owner came out and
said, Hey! What are you doing here /?
Where are you going?' Going back,
sir, said the boy.
10 Wrong to Put United
States in Such Position
Il do not like to have the United
States put in such a position. 1t ia
wrong. Now, what did we do? Hav.
ing gotten rid of Huerta by this ex.
traordinary series of actions, what next
did we do? We SAID: Let these Next.
cans spill as much blood as they want
to, that Is their blessed privilege So
we coquetted with Villa, we coquetted
with Carranza, and We showed our dis.
position to favor any bandit in the
land. Now, then, we have found what.
as result of our unpreparedness? I
wish / had the time to go into that
subject here tonight.
AS a result of our unpreparedness
we found the young men of the Guard
throughout our country sent down
there on the border. sworn into the
regular army of the United States, be.
cause we did not have a regular army
big enough to keep the bandits over
our line. I never heard of a more ex.
traordinary expedition than that punt.
tive expedition we sent down there.
Was 1t military expedition, or was Il
not? II 1t was not military expedi.
ton, why send it? II 1t was a military
expedition, why ignore all the essen.
tial requisites Of properly managed
military expedition?
1T went down between two lines OF
railroads; 1t could not use either. With
our American troops going mile after
mile for hundreds Of miles into Mexico
the interest OF what We think they
Ihould be.
Styles francesca Villa
Incompatible Character
NOW, that was precisely what was
done. We did not content ourselves
with not recognizing Huerta. There is
no question about recognizing or not
recognizing Huerta. That was mat.
ter to be determined according to
proper principles, according to the un.
derstanding of the executive as to the
capacity of that government, il it were
government, to furnish adequate pro.
lection and discharge international OBJ
legations. But our administration said
to Huerta: You get out. You can't
even be candidate. We won't allow
you to run for Office We are so de.
termined to get rid of you, that you
can't put yourself up to be voted for.
And Immediately after recognition was
Withdrawn from Huerta it was ex.
tended to that incompatible, that IDEAL
character, Villa.
Now, in my judgment, the admins
tration did very wrong thing in aban
doning its proper international attitude
and taking the attitude that no inter
national lawyer could understand
that no Mexican could understand.
They said or the administration
said: We do not want to NEEDLE with
your affairs; but we won't let Huerta
be a candidate. We do not want to
do anything which indicates a desire
to control your politics, but in youi
domestic affairs, you have got to do
what we say
Now, the Mexicans protested. They
did not think we were sincere. They
could not understand that. But here
was bred hatred of us, and an ami.
mostly for us. That is very regrettable
We have no aggressive desires with re.
spect to Mexico, or any other country
This country has no desire to do any.
thing but what Is Just. Why should
we make any one dislike us? We
never would, IL we were correct We
never would If we understood what we
were to ask and why we were to ask
1t, and where We were to be strong. 1t
Is an awful thing to be strong in the
wrong place and then run away as soon
as you get caught at It.
why did we go down to Vera Cruz?
Most OF the people of this country
thought 1t was because we had sus.
tanned an insult and that our admiral
had demanded salute, or that we
backed him up in this demand for the
saltue. Well, that was an extraordi.
nary thing to shed blood over But,
we didn't get the salute. 1t turns out
We didn't 60 after the salute. We went
before the resolution was passed, and
then apparently 1t was to prevent the
landing OF ammunition that would get
to Huerta, and still within very short
time after that landing the ammuni
ton got to Huerta. Well, the Mexi
cans didn't understand our attitude:
there was fight; 10 Americans and a
large number of Mexicans were killed.
And they, the administration, say they
kept us out of war; That was war:
and very ignoble war it was called,
over the bodies of those dead soldiers,
war Of service.
But we did not persist in it; we
came back, and when one of the
brightest minds of the administration
was quoted In one OF the distinguished
papers of New York, and asked to ex-
plain what we went there for, this
cabinet officer said: No, not to pre-
vent the landing of munitions, we went
there to get rid of Huerta.' There you
have this wrong-headed policy showing
up again. The Mexicans couldn't un.
derstand IL. II he had said that we
did not recognize Huerta because he
couldn't fulfill his obligations, II we
had said we wanted a stable govern.