The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1916-10-26

wrong hereafter done TO this country;
and that the truth was expressed the
other day by his eager eulogist, secre-
tary Baker, when he said that he was
glad" that mo one could insult Mr..
Wilson and make him go to war"
Internationally General Carranza and
probably Herr Won Tirpitz heartily
agree with Secretary Baker-and deep
in his own heart I am inclined to be-
lieve that Mr.. Wilson himself also
agrees with him.
Two OF Mr.. Wilson's most distin.
guished champions. one official and
one non-official, take the same view.
Secretary Lane stated that the fact
that American citizens have been
killed by outlaws and bandits" was a
proper subject for much regret" but
not for sacrificing the blood of our
sons" Does he think that woeful al
fusion OF regret" is the way to move
bandits? DIR. Charles w. Eliot, former
President of Harvard, praises Mr..
Wilson for having made great con-
tribution to the peace of the world
and to the promotion Of humane and
Just dealings between nations" by
having gone far to establish as the
American policy the policy Of nom
Intervention by force of arms for the
protection Of miners, commercial ad-
venturers, inventors and workmen in
foreign parts" and by having refused
to adopt the ''malign suggestion" to
protect the lives of these men by
punitive expeditions and compelled
agreements" Reduced to concrete
terms, this statement of DR.. Eliot is
that President Wilson is greatly to
be praised because he took no action
when some nineteen fine, unoffending,
Woodworking and totally unarmed
American miners, and engineers, we're
taken from a railroad train, tortured
and murdered by an armed Mexican
force. DR.. Eliot has been a severe
censor of political morals, strong in
his condemnation OF bosses, crooked
politicians, and demagogic labor lead
ers; but no corrupt boss, no crooked
politician or labor leader, no con-
scienceless capitalist, has ever preach
ed or practiced a more degrading doc
trine, a doctrine more ruinous to the
soul and the manhood of this nation,
or more destructive to humanity and
justice in the world at large, than the
doctrine thus set forth by this former
College President.
There was probably no American
outside his own immediate following
more anxious to see him succeed, and
more disappointed when he failed
than was. I criticise him only be-
cause by duty as an American citizen,
proud OF his country and jealous OF
her honor, forces me to stand against
him. Apparently the chief claim ad-
vanced for Mr.. Wilson now is that he
has kept us out of war" Mr. Wilson
himself said in effect the other day
/ that II he was not elected we would
have war. Yet Mr.. Wilson, through
the Democratic platform, announces
that "the Mexicans have made war
upon us, and have murdered our citi-
zens." Apparently Mr.. Wilson does
not mind the Mexicans being at war
with us, as long as we are not at war
with the Mexicans. Mr.. Wilson's con-
ception of war painfully resembles
that described by Mr.. Stephen Lea
cock in his anecdote of how Mr.. Smith
took Mr.. Tompkins by the coat collar
from behind and began kicking him
vigorously, "and the fight continued In
this manner for several minutes" The
war out of which Mr.. Wilson has not
kept us with Mexica has been waged
in precisely this manner; and Mr..
Wilson's attitude has been precisely
as dignified as that Of the mis-handled
hero of Leacock's anecdote. And the
great military nations Of the old world
have treated Mr.. Wilson, and through
| Mr.. Wilson have treated Uncle Sam, In
similar fashion. However. in one case
Mr.. Wilson asserted himself Hayti
had not behaved towards us one hun
dredth part as badly as Mexico. mol
one-tenth as badly as Germany; but
Hayti had neither army nor navy
Hayti did not even have arms and am
munition, and therefore President
Wilson was not too proud to fight Hay
II. He has taught the world that no ma
ton which is small enough to be help
less can insult us with impunity. Arr
you proud Of the record, you Amer
leans of Kentucky, you whose fathers
we're once not too proud to fight
Mr.. Wilson has kept us out o
war" forsooth! Why, on our east
ern coast war now grins at us iron
just outside the three mile limit, and
on our southern border war has beer
waged on US within our own terri
tory again and again by bands o.
armed invaders during the last three
years.
In his great book on international
law. Vattel defines war "as the efforf
TO assert rights by violence" The
Mexicans. during Mr.. Wilson's term
have killed more Americans than the
Spaniards killed in the Spanish War
We have now gathered on the Mex
lean border, and have kept there fol
three months, a far larger army than
the combined armies that took Cuba
| and the PhiliDpines from the SDan