Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-06-17
STANDING ON THE RHINE;
WABBLING ON THE RIO GRANDE
President Wilson's Chronic VaciIIation
Regarding Mexico Emphasizes the
Contrast and the Need for New
poIiex 80 c,,i.u ,.l ui,or

Contrast and the Need for New
Policy Of Sanity and visor
THE watch on the Rhine bespeaks the
firm will of great nation, triumphant
with its allies, over the most formidable
menace which the forces of tyranny ever
reused against civilization.
The watch on the Rio Grande bespeaks
the absence of consistent resolution and
the riotous advantage which the scandal
Gus Kilkenny cats of brigandage take of
that faltering.Y
Were it not shameful the contrast in
these fuvial scenes would be ludicrous.
Doubtless it is grimly amusing to Pancho
Villa, whose prospect of immunity from
justice continues to be so much brighter
than that of the prisoner of Amerongen.
Doubtless also Venustiano Carranza
enjoys his little joke.
Two years ago mighty empire offered
to aid him in carving off choice slices of
the United States. That empire COL
lapsed, which is one of the reasons why
that engaging scheme fell through. But
the suggested partner in the enterprise is
under no such practical obligation to be
contrite. Mexican anarchy, Mexican dis
regard of the ordinary principles Of civil
lied existence, Mexican zest for license
and looting remain ineffectively rebuked.
If these predictions manifested
themselves exclusively within the borders
of the most tumultuous republic" on
earth the situation would be tragic only
for its citizens. The Mexican fury, how
ever, is not respectful of frontiers.
1t was reckless in the Nogales and
Juarez outbreaks of the past. 1t
is impertinent and irresponsible in the
latest manifestation at one-horse, ram
shackle border town. The "battles" of
Juarez periodically imperil the lives of
the citizens of Ell Paso and cast shadow
of the most lamentable disrepute upon
the standard which floats with so glorious
an assertion of justice and authority over
the turrets of Ehrenbretstein.
There is the essence of the most pain
full mockery in the page of American his
tory which simultaneously displays this
republic standing on the Rhine and wab-
bling on the Rio Grande
Impatience at the lack of any discern
ible policy regarding Mexico was to some
extent unjustified while the world war
was on our hands. Germany would have
been delighted to embroi US in the mud
die while the conflict was being fought
and, indeed, she did her best to trap us.
The Mexican mess, however, both ante
dates and postdates Armageddon. Had
an ineligible and courageous course
been adopted by the Democratic admins
tration prior to April, 1917, there would
have been no embarrassing inheritance
for the very forces that are endeavoring,
and rightly so, to establish league of
international peace. AS it is, the stua-
ton presents some of the same familiar
and disgustingly intolerable aspects that
it did in the ante-bellum days of vacilla-
ton and bungling.
In ineffectuality alone has Mr.. Wilson's
policy in Mexico been consistent. His
acts have been largely futile. His inves-
LEGATIONS have been untrustworthy-
witness the notorious exhibits by the
taciturn and mysterious John Lind and
the communicative but equally mys-
terious William Bayard Hale. Bluster as
revealed in the Vera Cruz fiasco has
alternated with. tame acquiescence in
situations bristling with dangerous para
doXes.
1t has been said that the Wilson admin
istration attained its principal objective
in the overthrow of the murderous, drink
sodden and insensate Huerta. If that is
so the President and his colleagues were
more easily satlsned than the American
people, since the partial success of the
Carranza regime has produced merely a
repetition of the old outrGges.
In the newest fray at Juarez there are,
as usual, elemeats of absurdity. The
town itself is wretched hole, of no i'm
portance save as a spot wherein fighting
may be concentrated to impress Ameri-
cans with Mexican revolutionary turbu-
lence and as haven for various kinds
of license, sporting and otherwise, banned
across the river.
II has been intimated that not all the