The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1916-06-20
MEXICO.

1t would seem tnat what mas un-
doubtedly been the inevitable in re-
spect to the relations between Mexico
and the United states for a long, long
time, is about to happen.
Actual Intervention on the part of
the United States in the disordered
affairs in the country below the Rio
Grande seems imminent; an interview
ton that will suppress banditry and
the incipient revolutions that have
been the curse of that unhappy land
for so many many months and one
| that will assist its decent people to set
up stable and satisfactory govern
| ment for themselves; and not an inter
VentiOn in the interests of one or the
other of the Mexican factions, as has
| been the case on at least one occasion
since President Wilson and his adj
ministration have been in charge of
our end of the Mexican situation.
! OF course, the call of the president
for the mobilization of the National
Guards of the several states, and the
immediate transport of some of them
| to the Mexican border, is not a move
or a decree that means this sort of
Intervention Immediately. But this
call that will eventually place 100. 900
and more additional troops at the dis
posal of the federal government for
Mexican service, is being construed
on all sides as forecasting such inter-
vention. And there is an evident senti-
ment or feeling, not only in army cir
cles but also among the lay officials
at Washington, that this Intervention
must come, and that it will not be de-
layed for any great length of time.
If it doesn't some sort of miracle
must come to pass that will cleanse
and make anew the Mexican slate of
today and bring order out of chaos in
that much-troubled country.
| There is no use crying over spilled
milk, it is true. And when the United
States has a military task ahead of it
of any considerable proportions the
partisan politics of the hour are for
gotten and the whole country gets be-
hind the president in order that the
work at hand may be done speedily
and as well as possible, and the pres
tge of the nation sustained.
So Woodrow Wilson will find the
people of the country responding
eagerly to any call he may make upon
them, and there will be men a-pIenty
to volunteer their services for any duty
for which their country needs them
At the same time, though, there is a
deal of room for honest and sincere
criticism at the way the Mexican prob
lem has been handled by President
Wilson and his advisers. As a matter
of fact, it hasn't been handled at all,
or except in such a hating, hesitating
tual intervention which the president
has been so reluctant to undertake al
most a certainty.
And if this Intervention comes dur
ing the presidential campaign, as now
seems likely. it will be useless and also
decidedly beyond the mark for the
presidents partisan friends to try and
make political capital out of it; for
them to bewail any idea of the Ameri-
can people changing horses in the
nidstream of war, and so on and so
forth
i. An American invasion of Mexico
even on such a scale as would be nee
essary to pacify the country under the
present conditions that prevail in
Mexico would not be war in the ac-
: cepted sense of the word today; nor
: would it be war that might threaten
in any way the stability of our gov
eminent, or even the prosperity OF
happiness of our people.
There would be battles between
Mexican forces and our troops, nc
doubt, and with American casualty
lists that would be unfortunate and
distressing. But the biggest of these
battles would be relatively small at
fairs, and there never would be g
: doubt of the eventual outcome of oul
endeavors.
= Any invasion of Mexico, therefore
that it may be necessary to undertake
= would not be war. 1t would be pc.
lice duty pure and simple. though the
. scale of it might be considerable.
And in no respect has the admins
. tration at Washington erred NOR,
gravely than it has in failing to pre-
pare adequately for this Intervention
3 until the eleventh hour
For three years now, there hav,
been prospects, and pretty definit,
ones, that sooner or later the United
States would be compelled to inter
vene in Mexico to the extent of re
: storing order there. and practically n,
steps were taken to prepare for thi
Intervention until after the Villa rait
at Columbus. And even the troop
that were then on the border wer
< not sufficiently equipped to begin al
: immediate pursuit of Villa and hi
bandit band. They had to wait 70
i provisions, for ammunition and 70
II motor trucks to transport their sup
= plies. And this why the chase TO
: Villa failed
e Even since the Pershing expedition
e into Mexico, there has been dilatori
: ness on the part of Washington abou
il meeting the situation along the Dor
= der that this sortie created. Genera