The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1919-08-21
THURSDAY, AUGUST 81. 1919
ACTION IN MENICO

Having suffered the humiliatic
of being obliged to pay ransom fc
the lives of two American army of
GERS who were forced by some mi:
hap to land on the presumabl
friendly soil of Mexico, the govern
ment of the United States calls upo
Mexico for immediate adequate az
ton" Its own action in immediate
i. ly sending the $4,000 seems to b
the only thing that is adequate, an
at that the government had TO rae
with a meeting of Texas cowboys I
decide which should be first TO ge
the money into the hands of the ban
dts. The government having neg
lected to fight in defense of Ameri
can citizens, the cowboys had goot
cause TO doubt whether it would pal
ransom fer them.
Secretary Lansing's demand
sounds peremptory. but not more st
than several other notes which nave
gone to Mexico. The killing o.
Americans and the wrecking and
confscation of their property went
on regardless of notes, regardless
also, of the fact that Carranzas has
been rec gnized as fully estab
lished. orderly. civilized government
which il is not. However, the tone
of the last preceding note is such as
to raise hope that at last President
Wilson is about to do his plain duty
which is to defend the lives and the
property of Americans abroad as
well as at home
He entered on the policy of watch
full waiting until the Mexicans had
completed the process of self-deter-
mination in their own peculiar, rev.
olutionary way. In fact, several
rival bandit chiefs, whose forces
probably at no time exceeded / per
cent of the population, fought to de-
eide which of them should have the
exclusive right to rob the other 80
per cent. Carranza won, was recog-
nizZed as president, and it was sup
posed that watchful waiting had
ended.
During that ag9niZing process
hundreds of Americans were murder
ed or subjected to unspeakable out
rage. more often by Carranza's ad-
herents than by others. The rail-
roads, oil wells. mines, ranches. in
dustries, which had brought prosper
ity to Mexico and had lifted the peon
from serfdOm to some approach to
comfort, were wrecked in whole or
in part. When American troops went
in pursuit of CarranZa's enemy, Vii
la, they were ambushed by Carran-
za's soldiers. But nothing effective
was done. American troops twice
entered Mexico, but they came OUT
empty handed.
When we were drawn into the
world war, Carranza repaid our for
bearance by harboring all the Ger
mans and pro-Germans who fed for
shelter. by permitting his country to
be made the center CT German intri-
que for the entire American hemis-
phere, and by threatening TO shut off
the supply of oil for the American
and British navies. Since the war
ended he has begun to carry out
plans to systematic and legalize the
process of robbery in which he ex-
celled rival bandits. Americans are
murdered every few days, the mur-
derers are never captured and are
usually soldiers or officials of Car
rama. But Carranza pretends to
pursue them and to have established
peace and order in three-fourths of
the country.
The farce is played out. The Mex
leans have not been fighting to de-
eide by whom and how they shall be
governed. The rival revolutionary
chiefs have been fighting to- decide
which of them shall rayage a dere-
lict country, and 80 per cent of the
PEOPLE, in the words of Secretary
have thanked God they were
alive though it is doubtful whether
hey had good cause for such thank
'ulness. The land is full OF the ruins
If what Americans had done for it. |
md the progress of full generation
las been wiped out.
Carranza plans to continue his