Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1916-1918, 1916-10-24
KEEPING OUT OF WAR.

Y
tends to vote for President Wilson's re-
I election is forced into ms very ias 10
line of argumentative trenches ns s
says. We'll, Wilson has kept US oq' u
war; and lets 1t go at that
And. thereby he convicts hlmsell "
short sightedness and a blinoness ~
conditions on the continent on winch
he lives, to say nothing OF a surpris-
Ing willingness to regard the vera
Cruz incident and the killing OF a
score OF American marines as an evil
dence Of international amity.
should he consider the condition
that will confront the United States
government at the end of the Euro
mean war he could not but foresee q
rather awkward situation for the al
ministration at Washington when Ger
many Great Britain and France clear
their ewes of the smoke of battle and
turn their gaze to Mexico. where tnese
nations and several other nations III
Europe have vast interests.
Hundreds of millions Of dollars nave
Sheen invested in Mexico by citizens OF
these three countries alone, and these
investments are being DESTROYED or
made Improbable by the state OF an
archy in that country. The Wilson al
ministration upset the de facto gov
eminent the only administration Mex
1co has had that could cope with the
situation. destroyed It, too, after II
had been recognized by European
movers leaving in its stead condi-
tion Of chaos that has grown worse
and worse without serious lnterier-
ence from this country.
If the European nations mao not
been busy with their struggle Tor ex-
istence they would have demanded an
explanation from Washington long
ago and this government would nave
been compelled to protect the interests
of their citizens in accordance Win
the spirit Of the Monroe doctrine or to
see that document sink into oblivion
under an invasion of Mexico by avehe-
ing European armies.
when the demand for an accounting
romes from across the Atlantic-and
come 1t will as soon as treaty is
aisned-this nation either must aband-
on the Monroe doctrine or ahord the
europeans the protection they de-
mand even IL war measures must be
adopted to do it.
Well turned phrases and wordy
notes will not suffice. Action will be
demanded by great Britain. Germany
and France. And they will be In poor
lhumor to pause for lengthy parley
whom, after flying at each others
threats, they pause to cast up gains
and losses and discover conditions IN
Mexico.
We may desert our own citizens IN
Mexico. we may abandon their prop
erty TO pillage, we may even denounce
them az adventures and despoilers.
as the Wilson administration has done.
but we will md 1t impossible to treat
the citizens Of other nations In like
manner and "gst away with It,"
Even then, 1t may be possible to
keep out of war but 1t will not be
equally possible to retain the shreds
Of national honor which have been sal
vaged through the last few years.
When we come to an accounting with
the nations which are powerful be-
cause they protect their own peoples
rights in every corner of the globe, all
this talk about keeping out OF war
will simmer down to nothing but
confession Of the failure Of our gov
ognnent to discharge its obligations to
~ own people and its obligations. un-
der the Monroe doctrine, to the PEG.