Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1916-10-10
You are willing to fight for hui

of freemen. You willing to fight for hui
manity."
That has been the guiding policy of the Wilson
administration in dealing with the momentous for
egn issues it has faced. 1t has refused to plunge
the country into war bankrupt Mexico, because
such war would not have been fight for human
ity but simply selfish adventure to serve the in
terests oil a few American mine owners and cOnces-
sionares. 1t has used to adopt warlike course
toward England, despite the clamor of the Kaiser
bund, because while England's interference with
American shipping was very vexatious at times IL
was purely commercial issue which could be set
tied by the normal process of diplomacy, not vital
human issue that called for the shedding of human
blood. On the same principle, the President
pressed the submarine controversy with the utmost
vgor short of actual hostilites because it involved
not merely the rights of property but the supreme
rights of humanity. Fortunately for all interests
concerned the German Government yielded to
American demands. The lawless, ruthless methods
of U boat warfare were abandoned, and the Won
Tirpitz radicals exclaimed in bitter protest, Our
chief sea weapon has been caught in a net OF Amer
lean notes."
The Presidents Republican opponents affect an
air of pious resentment over his mode of handling
this problem. They say that he was weak and
vacIlating" If they all sincere in their crit
icism they believe that he ought to have gone to
war without exhausting all the resources for set
Element at once peaceful and honorable. II Mr.
Hughes means anything in his vague utterances on
this point, he means that If he had been President
he would have thrust the United States into the Eu-
ropean conflict and that If he should become Presi-
dent and be confronted with similar ISSUE he
would not wait diplomacy but would rush pell
nell to war. Such conduct, of course, would be
foobardy and nothing short of criminal; yet the
Republicans denounce the President because he did
not pursue that very course.
.eWiIling to fight for humanity" That has been
the steadfast principle of the Wilson administra-
ton in the of the most complex and dangerous
problems that ever beseged American diplomacy.
But willingness to fight for humanity implies and,
indeed necessitates an unwilngness to pour out
people's blood for any cause less high and holy. If
Charles r Hughes had been President during the
mast three years and had lived up to the doctrines
he now processes, that wise and just principle
would not have controlled our Government. He
would have recognized the murderous Huerta in
Mexico and as Huertas weak tyranny fell,
as undoubtedly it would, he would have committed
the country to a long and thankless war of subju-
CATION to serve the special interests of clique of
American landlords across the Rio Grande. If that
is not what Mr. Hughes would have done and what
he would do if given a chance then what he says
now is the mere babblng of hypocrisy
Willingness to fight for humanity and unwill-
ingness to fight less vital cause has enabled
the Wilson administration 10 steer Che united
States thus far safely past the pers of the greatest
war in the history of mankind. The task of main
tanning peace since the summer Of 1914 has been
the most difficult and troublous task of the kind
any American President ever faced. To say that he
has not maintained peace with honor is to charge
the American people with dishonor, for the rank
and file of them have stood squarely behind the
President and applauded his success in keeping
then, ont of needless war. To say that the Wilson
administration has sacrificed principle to safety is
IN indict the Republicans no less than the Demo-
crafts of Congress- for when the submarine issue
was at its crisis no responsible group of Republicans
either in or out of Congress urged that our Govern
ment pursue more drastic course than 1t did. On
the contrary a majority of the Republicans voted
for the cowardly resolution which aimed to forbid
American citizens to travel ships that were in
danger of submarine attacks.
IF willingness to fight for humanity and for
humanity alone had been the guiding principle of
the Wilson administration, the present war would
NOT have occurred Territorial greed, autocratc
ambition and the wild fever of militarism-these
were the passions that set Europe afre; and these
are the nassions that must be fettered if civiliza
tion is to hold the heights 1t has won instead OF
stumbling down to savagery.
Happv is America in having for Its helmsman
one whose vision and purpose are for the rights OF
humanity and who the nations course by that
polar star.