Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-03-30
HOW WILSON DIFFERS FROM
A SOUTH AMERICAN INDIAN
Inc ADorlglne Went So Fast One Day He Had
to Wait the Next for His Soul
to Catch Up

teat Of the Germans, they are welcome
to Il, so far as am concerned"
That is the way feel. too" owen
agreed.
Il have been reading two books this
week. l went on. (which have made
mo wonder whether ought to tell YOU
what think of them. ono OF them is
discussion Of the principles of Amer.
ican diplomacy, by John Bassett Moore,
one OF our best qualified experts on in.
tcrnational law, and the other deals
with the foreign policy of President
Wilson. II is written by two assistant
professors i'll Leland Stanford Junior
University. l am in no quandary about
Mr.. Moore's book, save rs his enuncia.
ton OF principles can be regarded az
criticism Of the President. The o,hcr
book is so enthusiastically ouloglstic
or Mr.. Wilson that IL II appeared at
any other time 1t would receive the
treatment that il deserves"
Then YOU think the Presidents for
eign policy has not beeen wholly sue
ccsstul?' Owen wanted to know.
II do, most emphatically," said |.
No more stupendous blunder has been
made by an American President than
that of which Mr.. Wilson was guilty
i'll his dealing with Mexico. Yet the
California professors seem to think
that his course was both successful
and justlilable. You know he sent
word TO Huerta that he must retire
from the Mexican presidency, that he
must hold an election and that be
must not be u candidate in that cleo
tion, and he announced that he would
recognize no Mexican President whose
title to office was no better than that
OF lluerta. The California professors
can see nothing wrong in this. Mr..
Moore, however, in his introduction,
calls attention to the principles of for.
elgn policy laid down at the beginning.
under which the American republic
acted on the theory that Governments
are existing entities and made no at
tempt TO decide whether they were
legitimate or illegitimate under the
local constitutions. And in his chap
ter on nonintervention and the Monroe
Doctrine Mr.. Moore quotes Jcfferson's
famous letter TO Gouverneur Morris.
our representative in France. in the
course Of which jefferson. said that
we could not deny to any nation that
right whereon our own Government is
founded to change its form at will and
to transact its business with foreign
nations through whatever organ it
thinks proper. Then Mr.. Moore re-
marks that the test OF a governments
title to recognition is not its theoreti.
cal Legitimacy. but the fact of its ex-
istence as the apparent exponent of
the popular will Then he reminds
us that recognition is accorded to a
Government when it has demonstrated
its ability to exist, and that it cannot
he withheld unless the withholding
Government intends to intervene. as
Withholding recognition is in itself n
form OF intervention"
THAT is what Wilson did in Mex
ico" said owen. "IIe not only re-
fused to recognize IIuerta, but did
everything in his power to oust him
from office. I seem 70 remember that
after Huerta had left Mexico the
spokesman Of the Administration
boasted that the Tampico flag incident
had been seized upon as an oppor-
tunty for dealing the final blow to
Huerta. and that although the flag !
was not saluted Huerta was forced |
out"
I'VE have not forgotten that, even /
if the whole Mexican situation has |
been lost sight OF because of greater |