Mountain advocate., 1916-10-27

tegrtty that the great powers insist
upon. We again declare fully the
policy that the sacred rights Of Amer.
lean citizenship must be preserved AZ
home and abroad | ask all decent
men, all right thinking men of
Straightforward minds, whether there
ever has been ranker hypocrisy than
the use of such expression by the
man, and the men, who. when the con-
ditions they thus set forth were met
TO a dot. to line. In the case of the
killing of our men, women and 'hl
dren on the high seas and in MeXicu.
and in the case Of the invasion Of Rel
GUM by. Germany. instantly forgot
their duty to America. to humanity
and Justice. and took no action to
back up their highsounding words.
President Wilson has seen the lives
of some five hundred Americans taker.
afioat and ashore, but never in one
case has he made good the promise
of his platform. As soon as Belgium
was invaded Mr.. Wilson instantly for.
got his concern" for the rights and
nounced that we must be neutral not
only in deed. but in thought. between
right and wrong. and that we had no
concern with the European war. and
that the COmbatants tincluding the Bel
gains, who were fighting for their
wives, children and hearthstonesl
were all merely "madmen." Out OF
tl.f Ia, a
and his party supporters stand con.
demned for their action and their in.
action.
This case of Belgium was the iirs;
of Mr.. Wilson's International sins. II
combined lofty promise and com
plete failure in performance. II
consisted of words which were null'.
fled by deeds. In these respects he
made it the precedent which he fol
lowed ever afterwards. He followed
it when he wrote his strict account.
ability" note to Germany and then
for year held Germany to no ac.
countability, either strict or loose.
while il sunk ship after ship with
thousands of non-combatants including
hundreds of Americans ard no atone
ment has been made for the lives thus
lost to this day. When he dealt with
our property rights, he announced To
England that the United States in.
tended fearlessly to accept the cham.
pionship" of neutral rights. But as in
the case of his note To Germany. he did
nothing to back up his words. They
were words and nothing else. He said
he would hold Mexico to strict re.
sponsibility." and he did not hold her
10 any responsibility. He said he
would hold Germany to strict ac
countaDilit!," and he did not hold her
To any accountability. He said that
the English blockade was illegal. in
effective and indefensible; ana he
neither made his words good nor acted
Oh them. He announced that h. would
insist on all our rights, and then he
abandoned them all. He wrote strong
notes. TO both sides; and he took no
action Ia back up the notes To either
side. We accomplished nothing with
either side. We incurred resentment
we have succeeded. We have induced
the bclligcrents to agree on one point.
They agree in their utter contempt
for America, in their conviction that
the American people cannot DE goaded
into virile action To defend the lives
of their men, women and children.
and i'll their certainty that We are ac-
l. 90 L.
rhs agOnies of our European brothers.
Thinks to President Wilson We have
shown ourselves too craven to stand
up for oar own rights, or for the
rights of weaker peoples. If we had
done as we ought to have done, our
neutrality would have been a badge
OF honor and not one OF shame. II
we had shown emphatically that we
intended to give square deal %
everyone. and to demand a square
deal for and from everyone, if We
had done for Mexico what under Presi-
dent Mckinley we did for Cuba. If We
had protested against the invasion of
Belgium. if we had summary stopped
the murder of our men, women and
children by German submarines. and
had then effectively asserted the free
dom Of the seas against the British,
we would certainly have brought about
the recognition Of our rights, and very
possibly would have inspired sufficient
confidence and respect in the belliger-
ents to have enabled us to secure
peace before this time. Had We so
acted, we would have proved ourselves
loyal Americans in the first place, and
in the next place We would have shown
a veritable. instead of a sham, loyalty
To humanity. We would have proved
that our devotion to humanity was
more than mere lip worship. But let
it be understood from the beginning
that never can We or any other nation
take such a position unless there Is
both preparation in advance, and also
the Willingness to sacrifice something
in order to compel the observance OF
the nations own sovereign rights, and
in addition TO enable II to perform Its
duty IN tho rest Of mankind