Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-03-27

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| tended to alIay suspicion across the border,
should he supplemented by another one call
ing by name the American capitalists whom
he charges with trying TO force intervention,
| THE Presidents warning against believing
| i the alarmst reports from Mexico goes too
! far or it does not go far enough. He says:
The object Of this traffic in falsehood is
obvious. 1t is to create intoerable friction
between the Government of the United
States and the de facto government Of
Mexico for the purpose Of bringing about
Intervention in the interest of certain Ameri-
can owners of Mexican properties.
This is the first time that the government
at Washington has taken formal notice of the
rumors that have been in circulation for sew
eral years 1t has been common report that
American interests have financed all the re.
cent revolutions in Mexico. They have been
charged In turn. with supplying money to
Huerta. to Carranza and to Villa. At one time
their purposes were said to be to secure from
the factonists they were supporting a greater
degree OF protection for their concessions, and
at another time they have been charged with
seeking to make conditions across the border
so intoorable that It would become necessary
for the Washington government TO intervene
and set up by force in the City of Mexico a
government which would protect their dollars.
These men have been accused of buying muir
der and arson, the outragng of women and
the slaughter of children for the purpose Of
increasing the amount of their personal and
private fortunes. They have been represented
being willing that 100000 American youth,
wearing the uniform of the American soldier,
should be killed on the cactus plains south of
the Rio Grande If only their mines and their
oil wells and their railroad bonds could be
protected.
1t has been difficult to believe that any
American citizens could be so lost to all sense
of decency and so blind to all the obligations
&C his manhood to be guilty of any such
preposterous plotting. Such things might
have been possible in the days of the buc
cancers and pirates, but not in this twentieth
century of Christian race.
But now the President Of the United States
in a formal statement issued from the EXecu-
tive Mansion takes cognizance of these
rumors. He does more He charges that at the
present moment certain American citizens are
actively engaged in circulating false reports
of trouble in Mexico in order to nfiame the
public mind to the point OF demanding active
intervention, and he warns the people against
being miscd by "the sinister and unscru-
pulous influences that are afoot'
If the President has no definite proof of the
truth of his charges, he should not have made
them If he has proof he should not stop
with his warning,
Who the men guilty of the high crime
of which he is accusing them? Give us their
names that they may be pilloried in the pierre
ing light of publicity. And give us also proof
of their guilt so that il there be no law under
which they can be punished for their attempt
to betray n peaceful nation into war and to
stir up strife between friendly sovereignties
they may be scorched by the blasting scorn
of an outraged and indignant people.
The general statement given out for pub.
lcaton on Sunday should he supplemented by
definite specifications II should not have
been made at all. The country will await
further disclosures with such patience it
can muster.
It may be that the President regarded his
accusations against sinister American in
fiuences as merely incidental to his main pur-
pose to assure Mexico of the disinterested-
ness of the Government at Washington in it's
pursuit of Villa. II is important that Mexico
should have that assurance. There are MeXi-
can politicians who willing to attempt to
ride into power on the wave of hostility to the
United States which is likely TO sweep over the
country if the great mass of the NIexicans
can be persuaded that we are attempting
conquest. The possibility that some of these
men would make common cause with Villa
has been present from the beginning. The
State Department has been exerting itself TO
convince all responsible men in the de facto
government that our purposes are honorable
and that the pursuit of Villa is not pretext
for meddling with the internal affairs of their
country. 1t has sought to persuade them that
we are cooperating with them I'm effort to
get rid of a force which is causing trouble on
both sides of the border, So far as appears, IL
has succeeded. All trustworthy reports indi-
cate that Carranza and his soldiers are work.
ing harmonlously with General Pershngs ex-
pedition.
So long, however, as the sinister and un-
scrupulous influences" remain unnamed and
unbranded there will he danger of misunder-
standings. not necessarily among the men in
charge of the Mexican Government, but
among the Mexican people themselves, who are
sensitive OF their independence and jealous of
their rights. The way to peace is over the
avenue of pitiess publicity. The President is
expected 10 head himself in that direction
without needless delay.
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