The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-06-30
quality Of a free and patriotic Amer.

quality of free and patriotic Amer
lean.
Mexican Policy Defended
What are the realities that face us
In Mexico exist the potentialities of
civilization. In her wealth, her his
tory, her schools, her religion, her
needs, her very suffering and patriot
| ism lie the indestructible seeds of
progress. To have conquered Mexico
would have seated death at the Amer
lean freside. 1t would have destroy
ed our prosperity and added hundreds
of millions of taxation to the burens
of the nation. 1t would have planted
distrust and hatred of the United
States in every South American Re-
public. 1t would have forfeited the
respect of the world. 1t would have
substituted the tenets of imperialism
for the principles Of Americanism. 1t
would have prostituted the bravery
and patriotism of American arms to
the greed and avarice of concession
aries. 1t would have robbed the
United States of the grandeur of her
mission amongst the nations of the
earth. 1t would have made might
right and repudiated the doctrine OF
Christianity. It would have ignored
the fundamental conceptions Of moral
progress and denied the right of fif-
teen millions Of people to govern them
selves.
Ambition and greed were prepared
to sacrifice America and all that
America stands for, in order to ac-
quire the wealth of Mexico. The di-
plomacy of "watchful waiting" avert
ed these calamities and preserved il
their original purity the principles Of
American freedom and justice. Watch
full waiting repudiated the brutal die,
tum of science that the weak must
go down before the strong. He'll
Mexico lest, over her bloody grave
are sown the dragons teeth of oul
own destruction.
Plotting U. S. Through Storm
War with any European natior
would have set the world ahame anC
stopped the march of progress for &
century. Would anyone have had il
so in order to affirm "virile Amer.
icanism ?" Is "virile Americanism
bloodshed, destruction, the horrors Of
war and its uncertainties The sub
stance of civilization is the arts, the
sciences, the literature, philosophy
industry, the domestic virtues, free
dom, religion and peace. But this il
the substance of American national
ism. 1t knows no national boundaries
1t yet lives in the trenches and brok
en- homes of Europe and pervades it!
very thrones. Therefore, America
lives in the trenches and broken home!
of Europe and its thrones. The stu
pendous conflagration is consuming
the errors of statesmen and dynasties
it is not consuming the substance O
civilization. Civilization is unity
War with Europe would have Gu
asunder the moral forces that binC
the nations and left an age of dark
ness, anarchy and despair.
Standing on the immutable founda
tons of such Americanism, the school
master and statesman, with consum
mate skill, a skill that commands tn
admiration of the world, directs tn,
forces of civilization, not with arms
but with reason and moral pressure
against the excuses of belligeren
world. With preternatural poise an,
clearness of vision, he is pilotinl
America through the rushing storm
Who can deny the existence of /;
moral design in the universe? VIII
can question its fulfillment? Who nov
can close his eyes to the destiny o.
Democracy to make the principles o.
civilization dominant, to bring thu
warning nations of the earth together
in lasting peace?
Worlds Real PacificatOr
The passions Of men die. The trutl
lives. America has called to Europe
Europe is responding in terms of {
revitalized civilization. The sublim
est picture in civil history is that o.
plain American citizen maneuver
ing with the weapons of reason anC
humanity against the navies and ar
mics of the contending nations, AM
bringing them in accord with thu
principles of international law. The
American standard of peace and jus
tice now floats on the sea. 1t is un
furling over the trenches of the strug
Cling nations. From the vantage
ground of imperishable Americanisn
the matchless craft of real pacifis
has not only avoided all war, but i!
leading the world into the ways o.
peace.
What is peace but the assertion o.
moral progress? What is the asser
ton of moral progress but the indie
structible civilization OF Europe anC
America? From the smolderine
ruins of thousand cities, over thu
graves of millions of brave men, ou
in the blackness of the battle smoke
arising from the obscurities of ma.
tional passions, already the peoples
of the earth recognize the dim out.
lines, growing ever more distinct, Of
the compost soul of America in tn;
patient and humane wisdom Of the
worlds real pacifcator.
Of what avail all the wealth of oul
beloved land if it had been consumed
in the destructiveness of war? What
avail the travail of human progress:
for 10000 years had not the school
master and statesman been pacificat
or? His achievement is so vast that
ambitious men are blind to its reali
ty. But the plain millions of all
creeds and nationalities recognize il
it the imperishable glories of 8
Christian civilization. 1t glorifies the
I II.