Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-20
NO PUssYFooTING NOW


AN ELEPHANT wrestling with mos.
L \ quito cannot expect laurel crown
in the event of victory. We gave Cuba
| it's independence and thereafter rescued
1t when It was about to be squandered by
self-seeking politicians. A few of our
marines have been maintaining the
Government in Nicaragua for many
Santo Domingo, that that pearl of the
ocean may be snatched from anarchy and
made habitable part of the earth, Yet
merely to protect ourselves against the
depredatons Of group of bandit con-
splrators in Mexico the regular army is
insufficient and it is necessary for wash
ington to summon aid from the individual
states and call into the field the National
Guard.
This is worse than humilatlng. But
for criminal negligence the regular army
would have been large enough long ago to
have assured respect from Mexico and
everybody in that country. But we have
paraded our parsimony, eXulted in our
negligence and have virtually invited the
deporable situation which exists. We
are, therefore. to take from our industries
and workshops men who are in no wise
Injured to the hardships of war and we are
to send them into a climate which is
often more deadly than any bullets ever
nodded. The enthusiasm of the citizen
soldery is proof that patriotism still
thrives and blooms, but this does not
lessen the criminality of national unpre-
paredness.
There is no disposition, with hindsight
as n mentor, to tell the President what
he should have done, but the success of
a Chief Executive is measured by re-
suits. The facts are that when Mr.. Will
son entered office an embargo prevented
expectations of arms and munitions to
Mexico and straiEhtway thereafter that
embargo was lifted The thousands of
desperate men who just now rally about
the Carranza emblem of loot are armed
with American guns and American bull
let's We have furnished the enemy the
wherewithal to shoot down our young
men, the means to wage war, the strength
which encourages him to defy and taunt
us with his threats. This may have been
craftsmanship, but it is more likely to
be written down in history as the SUI
preme folly of an Administration de-
cidedly somnolent in it's habits.
The errors which have been made in
the vain effort to determine Mexican
policy are not of so great Importance
now, however, as the avoidance of similar
or as vital mistakes in the near future
The country is in no mood to tolerate
laundering. 1t expects proper medical
provision for the men, the right kind of
food efficient leadership and definite
what its armies are fighting for, what the
purpose of the Administration is, and it
will want some guarantee that the Vera
Cruz ftasco will not be repeated. If we
are going to clean up and pacify Mexico,
let lis clean it up and pacify it right. But
this thing of marching up a hill and
marching down again, of inaction at the
very moment when action is imperative,
is something for which the country has
no stomach. 1t has been nauseated enough
by weak sentimentallsm at crucial mo-
ments. Give the boys" a job to do and
they will do it, but not If they are called |
off when about to achieve their purpose.
We trust that, with Mr.. Bryan out of
the Cabinet, decision and resolution will |
that august body of advisers
If the contrary should prove to be the |
case, November and March cannot come
too soon. A Buchanan now would be as |
much out of place as the other Buchanan
was half century ago.
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