Arizona republican., 1916-05-31

national standpoint, have refused in any way to prepare. The professional pacifists said, and even now say, that such preparedness would have in vited trouble with Mexico and trouble with Germany and perhaps with other old world powers. Look at the facts. We kept ourselves helpless to do jus tice to or for Mexico we refused to make ready in any way to protect our l citizens in Mexico, or even on our l own side of the Mexican border. We submitted tamely to the murder of | our men and the rape of our women. We bore with spiritless submission outrages upon outrages.. until the number of our citizens killed mounted 1 into the hundreds Yet so far from securing the good will of the Mexi- cans, this policy of unpreparedness and of tame submission to insult and injury, merely aroused both their anger and contempt to such degree that We are now engaged in harass-
 ing little war along the border.
 We have not the forces to make
 that war effective. We have actually
 
 seaboard defense, to serve as infantry
 down on the Mexican border This nation of one hundred million people
 with territory as large as all Eu-
 rope and more wealth than any other nation in the world possesses, has to 5 strip it's seacoast forts of their de- l lenders and put these defenders at g work which they are not trained, to ) ao. Even thus We are wholly unable S to make good our complete lack of D preparedness.
 l It We Had Been Prepared l. II at the outset, if three years ago. : We had resolutely and with foresight t prepared to act, and then. if neces- s sary. acted, in Mexico that country e would today be as peaceful and pros- porous as Cuba where we actually e did take the very action I advocate 1T for Mexico. If, the instant that the
 great war broke out in July 1914, our
 Fleet had been mObilized, a competent It man put at the head of the navy
 oepa' tment, our army put into proper
 trlm, and steps taken by our repre- u sentatives at Washington, both exec. II utive and legislative, to show that VIC 'e were making ready to meet any exi- l. geney that arose, there would hay, III been no trouble of any kind with an, T. belligerent- Of course, when we sub ' mltted to Wrongdoing from one side i- we invited repetition of tha al WronSdoing by that side. and the in -u fhctlon Of similar wrongs by the otn l. CT side. The thousands of non-com hatants men, women and childrer LII including many hundreds of Ameri
 can men, women and children. wh IT. rave been killed on the high seas III oHe the loss of their lives prima Til II to the supine inaction of this nation to to our failure to prepare. and on AS failure in instant insistence on on ot own rights and on those rights C III others which We had guaranteed t 's- protect
 ch The professional pacifists insiste uo that such lack of preparedness on or 'e part, and the observance by us ( no that kind of neutrality which cor TOT sists in tame acceptance of injur Ire from all sides, would make us poI ur ular with all the combatants and ir ue sure our well being. On the cor lte trary, the only effect has been to ear las for us the contemptuous dislike of a be the warning nations and to bring is to the verge of trouble with ther lst If we had prepared we would ha,
 saved thousands of lives and we wou
 have guaranteed our own peace. IT .n failure to prepare the failure to star lo- up for the rights of ourselves and of others, the yielding to wrongdoing, r TO- suited both in deferring the day wh ac- it was possible for this nation to a re- as peacemaker, and in bringing we measurably nearer to the danger rlv ourselves being involved in the co the flict. Weakness invites conteml er- Weakness combined with bluster i on lvites both contempt and aggressic ces Self-respecting strength that respee ing the rights of others is the only quail of that secures respect from others. io, in our foreign policy, we. are weak. tv. we use lofty words at the same tir .er that we commit mean or unwort nod actions, and above all, if we fail of protect our own rights, we shall r ing aeouIe ene soou- VII VI any ole, d the (Continued on Page Three)