Semi-weekly herald., 1916-05-18
PEACE POLICY
WRITTEN IN BLOOD

iEullOIlai from ne AIhcdBO lIiDuHtt
Another insolent invasion of our
soil and the sacrifice Of seven more
American lives-the three missing
are almost certainly lost and worse
than lost-make up the latest chap
ter in the ensanguined and shameful
story of "watchful waiting"
The special bitterness of this
tragedy to every thinking American
lies in the fact that it was in es-
sentials foretold.
Emphatically and repeatedly, before
the Columbus raid and since, the
government at Washington has been
warned that our border is not ade-
quately defended, that innocent Amer
ican lives would be sacrificed, that our
territory would be violated and the
dangerous contempt of Mexican pub
lie opinion further inflamed against
us.
In the senate Senator Sherman of
Illinois has pointed out the made
quacy Of the forces assigned to our
300 miles of border and demanded
the mobilization of the national
guard for service there. The Trib-
une has analysed the weakness of the
military dispositions made necessary
because of the shortage of men and
many newspapers have appealed for
more troops. The army has been 81
lent because y is gagged, but its
anxiety is no secret.
There is, in fact, no shadow of ex-
cuse for the callous inaction of the
government with respect to the Mexi-
can border. The blood of futile sacri-
flee is ON the doorstep Of the White
house and on the threshold Of CON
gress and no gush of high flown hu-
manitarian rhetoric will wash il
away.
1t is time the president of the
United States returned from his eN
cursions into the millennium and full
filled his pledged duty to this ma
tion.
1t is time the American congress
checked its pusillanimous quibbling,
its cheeseparing on defense, and itsI
lavish devotion to pork and made the
nations defense think not to be
overrun by guerrillas and flouted by
the tottering government of petty
| state.
To serve humanity is a noble ideal.
But it is not served by words To
serve humanity is an inspiring pur-
pose, but it begins at home. The
men who, shut in the burning hut
at Glenn Springs, praying for morn
ing so that they might see their foe
and punish him before they died, may
not have been humanitanons. But
they We're human, they were Ameri-
cans, they were our soldiers unof
Tending yet run to earth and slain
like beasts of prey.
| If the American people are what
they have been in the past, a nation
they will demand that their govern
ment serve the ends for which it was
created and is maintained and shall
forthwith with energy protest the
territory of the United States, make
secure the lives of its citizens, and
take whatever measures are neces-
sary to bring about an end of Mexi-
can offenses against US and our peo-
pie in or out of Mexico.
The outrage at Glenn Springs Is
the inevitable result of Mr.. Wilson's
| stubborn preference to his theories
over the facts. When he virtually
condoned the massacre at Santa Ysa-
bel; when he dickered with Carranza
for days while Villa was escaping
when he ordered ammunition to be
delivered over our border into the
hands of Mexican authorities who
hardly troubled to disguise their con
tempt and hostility; when he refused
to permit proper measures to be tax
en- for pursuit and subjected the
| American forces to the delay and
| privation involved in stern chase
thru the desert and mountains while
railroads were available; when he
| placed such checks upon our opera
tions that the American force at Par
raj, led into ambuscade by officials |
of our pretended ally, was compelled
to retreat instead of remaining to
punish the treachery; when he and his |
associate party leaders in congress
refused the demand for more troops |
after the expedition had weakened the
border guards; when in short, Mr..
Wilson persisted in his perverted
policy in the face of warnings hel
would not hear and conditions he
would not see he sealed the doom Of
the victims of Glenn Springs as his
policy for four years has sealed the
doom of many an American and many