Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-07-07
PEACE UNREAL WHILE RUSSIA
AND MEXICO DEFY US
Humanity and National Dignity Demand
That immediate Steps Sc Taken to Stop
Outrages to American Citizens

ing TO Di lSll'AI I>I NuNc Id NpiI'N i'''lf-
the continued outrares against Amepcan
citizens is rot merely an index of new
policy of vigor In its implications it IS
an indictment of months of dangerously
cent mental timGity and vacillation re-
suIting in lagrant forfeiture of ma
tional rights.
This shameful surrender, moreover. has
not simply been operative with respect
to Moscow. M,Niro as well as Soviet
Muscovy has c"imNally profited by our
false sense Of tolerance.
Apology for the excuses IN which both
countries have indulged has been weakly
based on a perverted extension Of the
principle, of self-dctermination In a
world in which debating societies could
he substituted for policemen such a
theory might have warrant But 1t is
quite without validity when outlawry is
defiant of the fundamentals Of interna-
tional relationships.
As was succinctly expressed in one Of
the most forceful of the long series of
notes to Germany. responsibility is abso-
lutte. not relative" Apparent inability to
grasp this elemental truth has been per-
niciously capitalized by both communist
and guerrilla chieftains, who sought pal
Iiation for their offenses on the ground
that they were working out their own
destnies.
Any sort Of crime whatever can, of
course be cloaked under this argument.
But that the specious .ure Of it should
have brought the foreign policy Of the
United States almost to a point of ac-
ceptance of deeds of murder and spoIia-
ton has placed this country in position
utterly at odds with every tradition of
national dignity and national dccency
The birth of this failacy is explicable
In the first flush of American enthusiasm
over the downfall of czardom in Russia
and the termination of Diaz absOlutlsm
in Mexico it was popular belief that
these countries would take the paths to
democracy after their own fashions and
that interfel Cnce with their methods
would bespeak a lack Of liberal SYM
pathy.
The theory was ostensbIy admirable:
the practice. devastating. 1t was fatal
because such a policy of respect carried
with it no reciprocal restrictions. The
"self-determination of Russia and Mex
leo proved entirely disdainful of the self
determination of any other land. The
result was debauch of license that has
few historical parallels.
Russia not only spurned the pnnc1ple
of nationality for herself. which was
within her rights, but disregarded it
with relation to all other peoples who
adhered to it. In Mexico, responsibility
lodging by the various revolutionary
factions kept tragic pace with the slaugh-
ters and coniscations.
The latest death list from the Iamplco
region reveals the names of eleven Amer
lean citizens slain there within the last
seventeen months. in addition to record
of robberies and other atrocities the
nere summary of which would fill, it is
maintained. four columns of newspaper
tyne. Lethal, indeed are the fruits Of
Americas oscllating policy regarding
the two outlaw nations.
While the war continued it was natu-
rally the part of wisdom to devote most
Of our energies to the determination of
the German menace. But peace has come
now and it finds us, after all our months
Of patience, as much victim Of fanatics
and brigands as though our capacity to
inspire legitimate respect were as mild
as that of Liberia or Paraguay.
So far as Russia is concerned the ques-
tion is one wholly apart from either the
alleged iniuuities or the alleged virtues
If bolshevism. Lenne is entitled to
communi@e. if he desires, every institu-
ton in his distressed realm. He may
nroclaim al iDitum his detestation of
natonalism.
But ne cannot proclaim it for the
United States of America and by no
doctrine of sane morals can his persecu-
tion of our national representatives, con-
suls and otherwise. be justified.
It is not battle of social and economic
PHILOSOPHERS which is here involved. 1t
is battle of national rights. Ours have
heen again and again outraged in Rus
sia. In truth. the course of infamy has
hern so consistently pursued that public
feelings in the matter have almost be-
come atrophied.
1t is pertinent to recall the little but
decisive war with the Barbary states of
a century ago. The Bey of Tunis was
brought to his senses, not because he was
a polygamist and tyrant, but because
he had defied American rights.
Acting Secretary of State Phillips's
note addressed to the offenders through
the Swedish authorities particularizes
concerning the arrest and detention Of
Consul Treadwell, the illegal imprison.
ment of Vice Consuls Durri and Leonard
and the Imprisonment under sentence of
death of an American citizen, Kalma-
tiano, in Moscow.
Tchitcherin, the Bolshevist foreign
minister, is informed that "the govern
ment of the United States now views
with grave concern the reported threat
of the authorities at Moscow to take
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