The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-06-05
Where We May Apply the Principle of
I1em0cracv


There is vast gulf between the pronounce
nent of principle and its execution in practice
Because many Christians fail to bridge that
abyss, the church is accused of preaching noble
doctrines while the Lazarus sits at the church
door asking for food. In political affairs the
same paradox is be found. Millions of our
boys went to France to make the world safe for
democracy while poor Mexico, vctinnized by
first chiefs of the constitutional army" lib
orators" and Citizens charged with executive
power" suffering under the cruelty and rapacity
of bandits lies bleeding and PROSTATE at our own
back door.
While American craftsmanship is trying to
restore the beneficent charms of peace and tran
guilty to the smaller princpalites of the Balkans
and to bring order among the European states,
a sister republic, in our own hemisphere, neigh
Dor of our own commonwealth, is torn and rent
asunder by revolutions, concocted by bandit
chieftains for the sole purpose of despoiling the
people in behalf of the men who by sheer force
of military power can control state or group
of states.
Doesn't it seem logical and in accord with our
principle of making the world safe for demo-
crazy" to take pity on the poems of this republic
suffering under the domination of cutthroats
and thieves who COW or kill every public-spirted
Mexican who dares protest? If Turkey and Ar
1nenia and other far-off countries are to exper-
fence the vivifying influence of American demo-
crazy, why forget the Lazarus at our own door?
Brigandage has made foreigners in Mexico
lose heavily but the full horror of the robber
giIne has been visited upon the starving millions
of that country. The outlook for these millions
is hopeless so long as the governmental organiza-
ton is for the sole purpose of exploiting the
masses. An outside government must act as foil
between the robber chiefs and the people until
they are able to stand on their own feet, select
their own officers, and to start on the road to
prosperity.
The United States under its new role of being
the foremost teacher and exemplar Of democracy
in the world cannot long escape the duty that lies
nearest to it. If Europe is to be regenerated by
the animating spirit of policies and ideals
surely poor Mexico has some claim for considera-
ton. The problem is greater than party issue
It is national duty. The Mexican people fought
for their independence many years ago. They
established republic, patterned after our own,
and sought to enjoy republican institutions and
a free government. Lack of education, laws and
customs inherited from their old Spanish tyrants,
and racial traits, made the people easy prey for
the rapacity of the demagogues who spoke OF
F@liberty and equality" in unctious terms while
they gradually stripped the people of both polite
al and economic freedom. And SO step by step,
as one 'liberator' succeeded another, the econ
omic condition of the peon became tragic and his
rights disappeared, until today he can hardly
conceive Of government in terms other than
frapine and murder, confiscation and pillage.
The restoration of the rights of the people Of
Mexico lies within our power. Surely that duty
is as important as the task of trying to solve the
muddle of the Balkans and to untange the prob
lem presented by the Slavic peoples.