Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-06-21
WHY WE MUST GO IN

TuERE Is still a chance that the army
i of the United states will not cross the
Rio Grande and that the small force now
in northern Mexico will be withdrawn.
The hopc still persists that war will not
be forced upon two peoples of which the
one is reluctant, the other irresponsible.
But whether war comes or not the people
OF the United states should realize that
they have already gone into Mexico and
that they cannot come out of it until their
mission IS fulfilled.
When that mission is understood the
people will be able to Judge more right
| eously the history of the past five years.
! There has been in all that time tre-
| mendous force working for immediate
| and complete intervention i'm Mexico. The
| State Department has implied the exist.
| ence of a conspiracy which subordinated
! the interests of the United states to GER
| tain interests in Mexico. In Congress a
| Representative denounced the single and
| selfish desires of Senator as the basis
for action. The private scandals Of Next
can exploitation are numerous, known
and indefensible. But at the same time
there has been a great public necessity
NSitAllillb StNuilAg III AlN-NiN' Nilt'i Ai'''
clashed with the national ambition of
Mexico when that ambition limited itself
to revolution. There has been the interest
of civilization clashing with "the interest
OF humanity"
President Wilson Is not to he scorned
as a dreamer because he has spoken of
the interest OF humanity. The interest Of
humanity is too seldom advocated in pref.
erence to the principal of foreign loan.
The fault with the present Administration
is that the rights Of humanity have been
considered chiefly MS the right Of human
il to he wrong. Tho President has been
so inspired with the rights Of each nation
that he has failed to recognize the rights
of all nations. lie has made an honest
attempt not to favor private right, and
has carried his scruplcs so far that he
has almost lost the power to punish public
wrong.
The most heinous crime of Mexico Is
not that bandits have murdered citizens
of this country or of any other country,
but that organized government has bolted
the doors of it's granarcs while it's people
starved, has closed the mines and broken
up the ranches without thought of the
world which depends upon them The
narrow limitations of politics or geoE-
raphy cannot persist in an age so frankly, |
inevitably international as the present. |
The oil which nature put into Mexico's
soil was not intended to light a lamp hid
under bushel. It's mineral wealth is not |
for kings ransom, but for the worlds |
ransom from poverty and misfortune. |
ment it's own deficiencies were pardon
able The doors were open and the tools |
lay ready for the talents which could |
use them.
The great concessions which European |
and American eXploiters enjoyed in Mex |
leo took nothing from the MeXicans which |
they themselves could use. The peon |
scratched his plot of earth and gained a |
meagre harvest The eXplolter dug under
the peon's hut and gave the world a for
tune. The revolution in Mexico seeks to
restore the peon to his acre. 1t is actually |
robbing the world of its acres of da-
monds.
The claim is made that the United |
States must not intervene in the affairs |
of Mexico because the United States is |
Il NtlllOCIuCS. Inc ldtl lS llltil lilb GlllIti !
States could not intervene if it We're |
not democracy. The brigandage and |
milltarism which calls itself a govern
ment in Mexico denies the fundamental |
equality of democracy because it insists
upon the rights of the least worthy. The |
pretense of agrarian adjustment has
fallen through in Mexico since Villa |
turned bandit, and the whole effort of the
de facto government has been directed |
not to maintain order but to maintain
itself. The United States goes in, by force
or by the compelling power of it's position
in the world, TO restore human rights, OF
life and of property, In the country which
despises those rights. The case against
intervention has been a case against ag-
grandzement for private gain. 1t has
been necessary to withhold the hand of
the police lest South America mistake 1t
for the hand of the picllpocket That is
no longer necessary.
We have to do in Mexico what we have
done with honor in Cuba. AS that coun-
try was freed from a foreign despotism
this one must be freed from internal
anarchy. AS that country was left To its
own devices this country will be left
when its devices are beyond suspicion.
There is a law higher than the law of
small nationalitles and n destiny which
fulfils itself in many ways. 1t is the
law that those who can shall be free to
do and the destiny is the inexorable
future of civilization. Today the United
States is the instrument