The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-09-05


plainly and act with unmlstakable pur-
pose In rebuke of these things, IN or
der that they may be forever hereafter
impossible. ! am the candidate of a
party, but / am above all things else
an American citizen. neither seek
the favor nor fear the dlspleasure Of
that small alien element among us
which puts loyalty to any foreign pow
er before loyalty TO the United States.
While Europe was at war our own
continent, one of our own neighbors
was shaken by revolution. In that
matter, too, principle was plain, and it
was imperative that we should live mn
to 1t If we were to deserve the trust of
any real partisan of the right as free
men see it. We have prOfessed TO be-
lieve and we do believe that the peo
pie Of small and weak states have the
right to expect to be dealt with exact
" as the people of big and powerful
states would be. We have acted upon
That principle in dealing with the peo-
pie of Mexico.
The Mexican Situation.
Our recent pursuit Of bandits into
Mexican territory was no violation of
That principle. We ventured to enter
Mexican territory only because there
were no military forces in Mexico that
could protect our border from hostile
attack and our own people from yio-
lence, and We have committed there no
single act OF hostility or interference
even with the sovereign authority of
the republic Of Mexico herself. II was
a plain case of the violation OF our own
sovereignty which could not wait to be
vindicated by damages and for which
there was no other remedy. The, au
thorities of Mexico were powerless to
prevent 1t.
Many serious wrongs against the
property, many irreparable wrongs
against the persons, Of Americans have
been committed within the territory of
Mexico herself during this confused
revolution-wrOngs which could not be
enectually checked so long as there
was no constituted power in Mexico
which was in a position to check them.
we could not act directly in that mat
ter ourselves without denying Mexi
cans the right to any revolution at all
which disturbed us and making the
emancipation of her own people await
our own interest and convenience.
For it is their emancipation that they
are seeliing-blindly, it may be, and as
yet Intellectually, but with profound and
passionate purpose and within their un-
questionable right, apply what true
American principle you will-any prin-
ciple that an American would publicly
avow. The people of Mexico have not
been suffered to own their own country
or direct their own institutions. Outsid-
ers, men out of other nations and with
interests too often alien to their own
nave dictated what their privileges and
opportunities should be and who
should control their land, their lives
and their resources-some of them
Americans. pressing for things they
could never have got In their own
country. The Mexican people are en-
titled to attempt their liberty from
such influences, and so long as l have
anything to do with the action Of our
great government l shall do everything
IN my power to prevent any one stand
Ing In their way. 1 know that this is
hard for some persons to understand,
but 1t is not hard for the plain people
OF the United States to understand. It
10 hard doctrine only for those who
wish to get something for themselves
out of Mexico. There are men, and
noble women, too, not few, of our
own people, thank God, whose for
tunes are invested in great properties
In Mexico who yet see the case with
true vision and assess its issues with
true American feeling. The rest can
be left for the present out of the
reckoning until this enslaved people
has had its day of struggle toward the
light. / have heard no one who was
free from such influences propose in
terference by the United States with
the internal affairs of Mexico. Ger
tainly no friend Of the Mexican people
has proposed it.
Tried to Act Fairly.
The people of the United States are
capable of great sympathies and II
noble pity in dealing with problems
of this kind. AS their spokesman and
representative l have tried to act in
the spirit they would wish me show.
The people of Mexico are striving for
the rights that are fundamental to life
and happiness-15, 100000 oppressed
men, overburdened women and pitiful
children in virtual bondage in their
own home of fertile lands and mex
haustible treasure. Some of the lead
ers of the revolution may often have
been mistaken and violent and selfish,
but the revolution itself was inevitable
and is right. The unspeakable Huerta
betrayed the very comrades he served,
traitorOusly overthrew the government
of which he was a trusted part, i'm
pudently spoke for the very forces that
had driven his people to the rebellion
with which he had pretended to sym
pathize. The men who overcame him
and drove him out represent at least
the fierce passion of reconstruction
which lies at the very heart of liberty.