Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1916-11-03
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1916.
THE GREAT ISSUE.

There are many matters OF real i'm
portance which will influence voters
next Tuesday, but the one great question
is:-Do we want Woodrow Wilson or
Charles Il. Hughes to conduct the for
eign affairs Of the United States for the
next four years? Mexico and the
Kaiser are one issue. The real question
is as to what kind of foreign policy
this nation wants. In the near future
interest may lie in China and Japan,
Mr. Wilson has shown how he deals with
foreign countries: Mr. Hughes has told
US how he will deal with them and we
may conclude pretty accurately what
his methods and policies will be from
the character of the man and from the
sort of men who are supporting him,
The loss of American lives from Ger
man submarines this past week is the
condemnation of Mr. Wilson'S foreign
policy as concerns Germany. He has
protested time and time again, but
Germany laughs in our face,
The most severe indictment Of Mr..
Wilson's foreign policy as exhibited in
our relations with Mexico was written
by his own Secretary Of State. Read
Mr. Lansing's terrible recital of condi-
tons beyond the border. A vote for
Wilson is a vote for the addition of
other chapters of the same sort to the
same awful story. No Republican has
drawn a more severe indictment of the
Wilson administration than is contained
in the following official note of the
Democratic Secretary of State:
"For three years the Mexican Repub-
lie has been torn with civic strife; the
lives of Americans and other aliens have
been sacrifced vast properties de-
veoped by American capital and enter
prise have been destroyed or rendered
non productive; bandits have been per-
mitted to roam at will through the ter
ritory contiguous to the United States
and to seize, without punishment or
without effective attempt at punish
ment, the property of Americans, while
the lives of citizens of the United States
who ventured to remain in Mexican
territory or to return there to protect
their interests have been taken, and in
some cases barbarously taken, and the
murderers have neither been apprehend-
ed nor brought to Justice. 1t would be
difficult to find in the annals of the
history of Mexico conditions more de-
plorable than those which have existed
there during these recent years of civil
war.
ut would be tedious to recount in
stance after instance, outrage after
outrage, atrocity after atrocity, to
illustrate the true nature and extent
of the widespread conditions of law
lessness and violence which have pre-
vailed. During the past nine months in
particular, the frontier of the United
States along tn. lower Rio Grande has
been thrown into a state of constant
apprehension and turmoil because of
frequent and sudden ncursions into
American territory and depredations
and murders on American soil by MeXi-
can bandits, who have taken the lives
and destroyed the property of American
citizens, sometimes carrying American
citizens across the international bound
airy with the booty seized. American
garrisons have been attacked at night,
American soldiers killed and their equip
ment and horses stolen; American
ranches have been raided, property
stolen and destroyed, and American
trains have been wrecked and plundered.
"The attacks on Brownsville, Red
House Ferry, Progreso Postotfice and
Las Peledas, all occurring during Sep
TENDER last, are typical In these at
tacks on American territory, Carran-
vista adherents, and even Carranzista
soldiers took part in the looting, burn
ing, and killing. Not only were these
murders characterized by ruthless
brutality, but uncivilzed acts of mutila-
ton were perpetrated. Representa-
tons were made to Gen. Carranza and
he was emphatically requested to stop
these reprehensible acts in section
which he has long claimed to be under
the complete domination of his author
ity. Notwithstanding these represen-
tations and the promise of Gen.
Nafarete to prevent attacks along the
international boundary, in the following
month of October a passenger train
was wrecked by bandits and several
persons killed seven miles north of
Brownsville, and an attack was made
upon United States troops at the same
place several days later Since these
attacks leaders of the bandits, well
known both to Mexican civil and mill
tary authorities as well as to American
officers, have been enjoying with i'm
punity the liberty of the towns of
northern Mexico. So far has the indif- !
ference of the de facto government to
these atrocities gone that some of these
leaders, as l am advised, have received
not only the protection of that Govern
ment but encouragement and aid as
we'll