Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1916-02-17


enough for the job; and what will
happen to us during the next year
mortal man cannot predict.
II were to leave this meeting with
out considering our relations with
foreign powers and without express
ing my own views upon the subject
which we have come to know as pre-
paredEess," the things uppermost IN
my mind, and yours as well | have no
doubt, would remain unsaid. The SUD-
ject presents itself in two aspects
Our course toward Mexico. and our
relation to the belligerents of Europe,
Mexican Policy Shameful.
No real, red-blooded American will
ever turn to the page which records
the conduct of this administration to-
ward Mexico without blushlng Tor
shame and burning with indignation
1t is hard for me to speak of the sub
ject in terms Of respect. do not, OF
course, charge the president and his
advisers with conscious wrongdoing,
but weakness and vacfllation are
sometimes more than the equivalent
OF intentional wrong, and from this
accusation the president cannot es'
cape.
In the past three years American
citizens who had a right to be in
Mexico have been robbed, shot, hung
and starved at the pleasure OF the SO
called armies rowing about the coun-
try; and never thing done save a
protest, now and then, to an ire
sponsib,e. cruel and lawless leader.
Our government has not only failed
in its duty toward our own people who
are in Mexico, but 1t has witnessed
the most atrocious outrages against
Mexican men and women the world
has ever known, without decisive
WORD or courageous act.
At the present moment the situa-
ton in Mexico Is absolutely hopeless.
There was a. time when in my judg-
ment. intervention might have been
avoided, but now the horrors of in
discriminate murder and the savage
lust for blood and rape and all other
crimes against humanity, have broken
| have not the strength needed to con-
struct a government. They are starry
| ing, not by the thousands. but by the
tens Of thousands; and | predict that
unless we are willing to stand by and
see that country lapse into bar0ariSm,
and to see it ravaged day after day
by the cutthroats and pEunderers who
| 50, Wi he
| PEELED to intervene simply to furnish
| a nucleus around which the remnant
| of liberty and decenCy can gather
| There may be sou,e other way In
which we can be helpful. but | am I'M
able to perceive 1t.
turn to our troubles with the bel
| lieerents of Europe, strange as it may
appear, with a profound relief. | be-
| lieve the president was wise and pa
| triotic in his proclamation of neutral
| ity. Sacred as the compact Of nations
ought to be, and sympathetic as all
| right-mindad men are with stricken
| Belgium, our country would not have
| been justified in declaring war be-
| cause Belgium was invaded. Wheth-
err we have been in fact neutral is
| quite another thing The government
may have maintained. technically
neutral position, but individually. in
dustrially. and financially we have
not been neutral. Agreeing, as |
think most of us do with the presi-
| dent in the neutrality of the nation.
| il Is yet unfortunately true that. in
maintaining the dignity Of our posi-
| ton. and in convincing the belliger-
ents of the sincerity of our purpose,
the state department has met with i'll
success. This is not the occasion for
reviewing the shortcomings of the ad-
miristration in these respects. but it
| is impossible to conceal from our
selves the obvious fact that we have
lost some of the prestige and dist =
ton which in former days illuminat-
| ed the American name,
| Question of Preparedness.
We are all profoundly grateful that
we are not in war; but some of lis are
skeptical about the credit which one
man claims for the peace which now
prevails. The stability of the presi-
| dent and his administration is not for
| feiteG when we remember that a year
ago he set his face firmly against
any increase In our military strength.
and impliedly opposed even the main
| tenance Of the naval program OF the
l&st few years, whereas when con-
gress assembled last December he
recommended with great earnestness
an immediate addition to both army
and navy and recently toured the
| country in advocacy of his program.
1t is not enough. however. to cues
ton the views of the chief executive.
his cabinet or his congress. or doubt
the competency of the administration
20 deal with the vital problems which
the unparalleled calamity in Europe
has created. | realize that. in the
prs sent circumstances the Republic
ans Of Minnesota have a right to know
nay views respecting the course which
the United States ought to pursue un
der the unusual conditions which now
confront rs.
To me the course is plain before
.1a