The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1917-06-08
SHOULD wE,FIGHT ONLY ON OUR
OWN SOIL?


this city are doing all in their power
70 create feeling of discomfort II
not actual disloyalty to our govern
ment in our present crisis.
They go so far as to refer to the
president as "Woodenhead' Wilson,
and declare that the government OF
the United States is more autocratic
and despotic than the government OF
Germany.
They declare that Germany had a
perfect right to declare war zone
around England. and that we should
have respected Germany's right to do
so
They condone and extenuate the
sinking of the Lusitania and other
ships with Americans on board and
proc aim hat it is 4 bloody shame
and nothing less than murder for us
to send our troops o night on foreign
soil
The theory of these gentlemen is
that the United States have no right
to navigate the high seas il Mr. Ger
many says that we shall not do so.
That we shall bow i'll humble and
abject obedience to the edict of the
kaiser: that our wheels of commerce
must cease; that traffic must come to
a standstill; that our ships must be
congested in our own harbOrs; that
our manufactured goods must no
longer be subject to expectation;
that our wheat and corn must decay
in orr granaries; our cotton rot IN
our warehouses: We must close our
mines and fold our hands in idleness
until it is the pleasure of the kaiser
for us to do otherwise.
We have a GOd-given right to the
seas. We have a right to trade with
foreign nations, although those ma
tions may be at war. These are i'm
memorial rights.
We have as much right to navigate
the oceans as we have the right to
travel along the highways of our own
country.
If one of these gentlemen were to i
warn us against travelling on a GER
tain street in this city. and disregard
ing his warning we did so, and, car
rying out his threat, he killed US, he
could not go into court of Justice
and ask for an a"quittal on the
on md hot fao sawzA
We disregarded it because he had no
legal right to give the warming.
If this doctrine were true and were
followed. no mans life would be safe
it would be at the mercy of every
man who had the affrontery to tack
up a. warning tag, and chaos and an
arhcy would quickly ensue.
And how about the oft-quOted as
sertion that I'VE must fight only on
our own sOil?'
Has that been the practice and ira
dition of this country?
Almost at the very beginning of our
national life. when Jefferson was vet
president, did we not send our sail
Ors and soldiers to the Barbary
states?
Jefferson proclaimed that our flag
had TO be respected by all nations
near or remote, and his conduct was
respected abroad and applauded at
home by all parties.
During our troubles with Great
Britain in 1912. where was the battle
OF i-undy's Lane fought? In Canada.
wasn't it? And didn't we send an ex-
petition into Canada under General
Hull. in the section of Detroit?
What about General Jackson's ex-
ploits in Florida in 1918 before it was
coded to our government when he
had Ambrister and Arbuthnot exc.
cuted-one shot and the other hang
ed-as spies. both being British sub
iects?
what about our invasion of Mexico
over the boundary dispute?
Did our troops not camp in the
very halls of the Montezumas?
When We declared war against
Spain did we not Immediately send
our troops to Cuba, then belonging
to Spain?
Never before did we have quarrel
so just as now, and in sending our
troops to France we are but follow
ing IN the footsteps of our ancestors
who proclaimed that the Stars and
stripes must be respected by the ma
tlons OF the earth, who dedicated this
government to the rights of humanity
and especially to the protection of
the lives and property of its own citi.
Zens in fha proSao,+;o. &c -.