Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1919-02-25


Mexican problem on through the grim
issues and perplexing aftermath of the
world war. These articles, which 'ap-
peared originally in the New York Times,
are by Mr.. John F. Moors, Boston law
yer who is member of the Harvard Cor
poration and of the Boston Finance
Commission.
On June 26, Mr.. Hughes wrote the
Colonel:
mo one is more sensible than of the last
| ing Indebtedness of the nation to you for the
| quickening of the national spirit, for the
demand for an out-and-out 100 per cent
| Americanism. You have sounded forth the
! trumpet that shall never round retreat"
In his address of February 26, the presi-
dent said:
when we seek safety at the expense of
humanity, | will believe that I have been
mistaken in what have conceived to be the
spirit of American history
The Republican platform now said:
We believe in maintaining a straight and
honest neutrality between the belligerents in
the great war.
and gave as the purpose of preparedness
to make certain the security of our own peo-
pie within our own borders"
Yet Colonel Roosevelt said of Mr. Wilson's
administration:
"From the standpoint of national honor
and interest it stood on an even lower level
than the administration of Buchanan, No
administration in our history has done more
to relax the spring of the national will and
| to deaden the national conscience"
Another contrast may be seen in Mr.. Will
sons address of June %:
"'America first means until you translate
| it into what you do. America should be
| ready to vindicate at whatever cost the prin-
| ciples of liberty, of justice, and of humanity
You cheer the sentiment, but do you realize
| what it means? 1t means that you have not
| only got to be just to your fellow men, but
| that as nation you have got to be just to
| other nations. 1t comes high It is easy
to think first of the national interest of Amer
| lea, but it is not easy to- think first of what
| America, if she loves justice, ought to do in
| International affairs. I believe that at what
ever cost America should be just to other
| peoples and treat other peoples as she de-
| mands that they should treat her. That 1
am ready to fight for at any cost to myself"
In those tense days he averted war with
Mexico, developed the attitude of strong
| nation toward weak now accepted every
where, and sketched his view of the effect of
overwhelming nation by force. Said he:
"The easiest thing is to strike. The brutal
thing is the impulsive thing. Do you think
the glory of America would be enhanced by
a war of conquest in Mexico? Do you think
that any act of violence by a powerful nation
like this against weak neighbor would re-
fleet distinction upon the annals of the United
States? We have the evidence of a competent
witness, the first Napoleon, that force had
never accomplished anything permanent.
Force will not accomplish anything perma-
nent, venture to say, in the great struggle
on the other side of the The permanent
things will be accomplished afterward when
the opinion Of mankind is brought to bear
upon the issues"
And again he said:
"Some gentlemen say they want to help
Mexico, and the way they want to help is
to overwhelm her with force. That is the
long way as we'll as the wrong way. After
fighting, you have a nation full of justified
suspicion and animated by well-founded hos
tility and hatred. You will have shut every
door, as it were of steel against you. l will
try to serve America by trying to serve
Mexico herself"
In those days Mr. Hughes spoke, amid
great applause, for dominant Americanism,"
for America first and America efficient" and
for "frmness." OF our European diplomacy
he said:
Instead of whiting away our formal
statements by equivOcal conversations, we
needed the straight, direct, and decisive rep
reservations which every diplomat and for
eign Office would understand"
Mexican policy.
1.-THE people of Mexico are striving for the
rights that are fundamental to life and hap
piness-ffteen million oppressed men, over
burdened women and pitiful children. Some
of the leaders of the revolution may often
have been mistaken and violent and selfish,
but the revolution itself inevitable and
is right. Mistakes I may have made in this
perplexing business, but not in purpose or
object
THE ISSUES DRAWN
In October the National Hughes Alliance
published a series of advertisements, over
zens, including Theodore Roosevelt, William
H. Taft, Joseph H. Choate, Robert T. Lincoln,
and Eihu Root. The following extracts in
dictate their tenor:
FLAG OR RAG
II "Mexico is either a nation or a mob to be
estimated and dealt with by standards of
civilization or to be treated as an ungovern-
able barbarian.
every species of shame that can be heaped
upon proud republic has been inflicted upon
us by a people whose de facto head the sue
honor with the consideration due only to
political and moral equals
"Our business is BUSINESS
Let us contrast what President Wilson said
on October 26:
GA great many men are complaining that
| the government of the United States has not
| the spirit of other governments, which is to
| put force, the army and navy of that govern
| ment behind Investments in foreign countries
Just so certainly as you do this you join the
chaos of hostile and competing ambitions"
| Thus we see the issues drawn Mr. Wilson
conceived America as the servant Of man.
| kind, Mr.. Hughes "Out-and-Out one hum