American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1916-11-02

arrested the writer's mind reverted to that awful
scene where Villa stood and watched his inhuman
brutes publicly rayish twenty-three American women,
the act repeated and repeated until they were left un-
conscious by their viOlatOrs. There was no insult to
TIE flag there! There was no appealing to congress
Tor authority to use the army and navy of this land
to resent insult. These helpless wOmen-their hus-
bands murdered-were on foreign soil. They should
nave needed the first warning of the timid, vasciIating
head of this great nation, to come home because they
were Americans, leaving all other natiOnailties safe
and secure because they had something back of them
to make them so!
The arrest of a few marines justification for tbo w
pendIture OF ten million dollars to compel a salute TO
the Tag; the violation of twenty-three women not
!ustlhcatlon for the expenditure of a dollar, demand
: ing nothing more stringent than a note of "strict ac-
countaDlllty which was never enforced.
Women set the moral standards of government
throughout the civilized world. They set the val
ue upon their virtue and men are and will be guided
by the value set. If the wholesale violation of the
sanclty or WomanhOod is of less Importance than an
affront to a man in the uniform of the United States
navy, let us establish the fact and get rid of some of
the notions we have heretofore held. The women of
Idaho; when they go into the booth next Tuesday to
cast their ballots, will help to fix a standard for our
future guidance. By their vote they will say what
constitutes an affront to this nation and what does
not; what is worth making a sacrifice, if need be, to
protect and keep sacred, and what is not. By their
vote they will help to say whether there shall 20 forth
a thunderous thou shalt not" backed by all the force,
the wealth and the courage of this great land, if need
be, to protect their sisters on the border or beyond, or
whether we will continue to write notes holding NOR
al and mental degenerates to a "strict accountability"
which never materializes.
The trouble is not with the character and stability
OF these men and women; it is their lack of Informal
ton. We all subscribe to the peace ideal. We are
not a mllitaristic nation. We are welded to peace.
so strongly so that in times past we have fought to OBJ
tam and preserve 1t, and are willing to do so again. We
are not allowed to know the truth about Mexican
and border conditions IN Nov 10 A r+l,,, rN,lo..
a resident of Boise, returned from a long soiourn on
the border, and gave an interview to the Boise States
man, and among other things said: 81 notice that pa
pers in this section of the country get entirely differ
ent stories from the ones they print on the border. so
that one reading of conditions up here has little con-
ception of the real conditions" Why? The govern
ment is not letting the truth get out. A member of
the Idaho militia from Lewiston wrote eight letters
home that never arrived, and his father received the
first word from him in response to a telegram of in
curry. Why? Because they were afraid he might
tell something? Every town in this state that sent
boys to the border contains letters detailing condi-
lions that are different from the daily press dis
patches, the recipients being enjoined not to permit
the contents of the letters to become public. Why?
The government is so anxious for the truth not to be-
come known that severe punishment would be inflict-
ed upon the writers of those letters regardless of the
fact that they contained truths only.
When Captain Wilson of Twin Falls was shot from
across the border by a uniformed Mexican soldier
standing beside a high officer, the news got to the
world through a dispatch sent by a private in the
Idaho regiment to the Boise Statesman. Three re-
quests OF the Associated Press representatives at No
gales for verification brought no reply until twelve
hours had elapsed, when a request came to Boise from
the Associated Press representative on the border to
give the story to the papers of the United States.
why? Because the powers that be did not want the
story to get out uncolored or at all. 1t might lead to
the belief that we were at war. More than 10000
soldiers are stationed along the border to preserve the
nctlon that we are at peace, and four hundred million
dollars has been expended to preserve that fiction.
just before congress adjourned it authorized the use
of $l5O,OOO,OO of Panama Canal bonds which were
issued but not needed because the regular revenue of
the government under Republican rule was almost
sufficient to build the canal without selling the bonds,
to pay the expense of our troops on the border.
When outraged justice compelled action and we
started after Villa, whom did we meet? Our old