New Britain Herald Newspaper, September 1, 1916, Page 11

ROOSEVELT GIVEN OVATION IN MAINE | show of re (Continued From Tenth Page). and leave the Americans to be ma: ered by the Mexicans or res the Germar lish “On Aug 1913, Wilson said with marked o effect: “We shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of those Americans who cannot get away e passed President since the date of ration; thr of incessant elocution on the part of Mr. Wilson; three ve: cated invocations Jumanity and peace by Mr. Wil and Mr. Wilson still continues to * ilantly watch the fortunes of Americans who cannot get away. There are not many of them left now. Hundreds have been killed, and Mr. Wilson has watched the disinterestedly they rats pu >d by terric Administration feeli responsibility for the American women who have been raped, and for the American me women and children who have been killed in Mexico, than a farmer shows for the rats killed by his d when the hay is taken from a bs now the Americ reople are inction this policy in the righteousness and humanity! sident Wilson took Vera Cruz in 1914, as we were officially informed at the time, to get a salute for the and to prevent the shipment of into Mexico. He did not get his He aid not prevent the ship- ment of arms, but several hundred men were killed or wounded; and then he brought the army home with- out achieving either object. President Wilson sent an army into Mexico in 1916, as we were informed at the time, to get Vi 1 or alive. They did not get hi 1. They did not get him alive. in several hundred men were killed 1 wound- | ed. Again President Wilson is bring- ing the army home without achieving his object “Of course it is a mere play upon | words to ; that these were not rs’ They were wars, and nothing &lse; ignoble, pointless, unsuccessful little wars; but wars. They cost mil- lions of dollars and hundreds of liv squandered, to no purpose; they ac- complished nothing; but they were Ang yet Mr. Wilson’s defend- ers say that he ‘has kept us out of war.’ As a matter of fact his policy in Mexico has combined all the evils of feeble peace with all the evils of feeble war; but he has not avolided srar. He has sacrificed the honor and the interest of the country; but he has not received the thirty pieces of sil- ver. “In fact, when Mr. Wilson forgets himself he admits that we have been at war; for example, on May 11, 1914, in an address over the dead marines at the navy yard in Brooklyn, (in which, by the way, he in effect cRimed sympathy on the ground that his- feelings had been as much lacer- ated by sneers as the bodies of the dead men by bullets), he said that the marines had been engaged in a ‘war of service.” A war of servico to whom or what? Certainly not to the United Sfas nor to co, nor to human- ity at large. Was it to Mr. Wilson? “As it is with ‘war, so it is with “mtervention.’ President Wilson has again and agian said he would hot ‘intervene’ in Mexico. As a matter of fact he has intervened continuously. On January 8, 1915, he announced that the Mexicans had the right to ‘spill blood,” to spill as much blood as they pleased, without interference. The fact that the blood they were sPilling included the blood of Ameri- tizens, both diers and civil- and among then women and children—evidently did not weigh with him. “On December 10, 1915, he said vas ‘none of our business what icans did with their govern- went, and so long as I have the power ta prevent it nobody shall butt in to alter them.” Yet at that very time he had been ‘butt in’ for two year and he has been butting in ever since; and he has avowed that he wished to alter it for them in all kinds of ways, from lanq tenures up and down as ho never followed any ¢fther intervention or non-inter tion with any resolution—always jielding at the critical moment to some bandit chief of whom he became fearful—both his spasms of interven- tion have alike been entirely futile. “In August, 1913, he sent a special envoy to Mexico to tell Huerta he would not recognize h He an- nounced this himself in a note in Oc- tober, and on December 2, he an- Rounced he would not deal with the Huerta government. This was inter- vention and nothing else; it was such intervention if in 1877 some Lu- ropean gover 1t had declined to recognize Hayves as president, and in- slsted upon the seating of Tilden Wilson intervencd Villa against Hu when he turne ognized Carranza. Warningz to Factions. “At one time Mr. Wilson’ Intervention pri such results that on guea a formal can factions i that ‘Mexico is appar ‘ no x 0- Jution of her tra than s%e was when the kindled. She has be war as if by fire. Her stroyed, her cattle confi her people flee to the mountains to escape drawn into ura r blood- nd no man seems to see or lead fhe way to peace and settled order. Fhere is no proper protection either for her own citizens or for the citi- vens of other nations 1 work within her te starving and without a governmen A delightful picture of the cffects of Mr, Wilson’s policy, by the way! “‘He therefore tells Mexico that, un- less ‘within 2 hort time’ the Mexican leaders get together for the relief and redemption of their pros- trate country. onstrained :’}‘1«'021: be employed’ to deal with the «ftuation. But, as usual with Mr. Wil- son, this solemn warning means pre- rs of re had been This ad- 1s disple when being shed, very Mr. | backed | * ued by 1torical | from Mexico.” Three | cisely and exa Carrar as and Villistas and the rest knew that it meant precisely nothing. They knew that Mr. Wilson would either not back up his words by deeds at all or else that he would back them up so feebly that by a sufficient ce he could be forced to abandon his purpose. “Some of the defenders of Mr. Wil- in answer to Mr. Hughes' merc! ss indictment of Mr. Wilson’s course ave sought to justify Mr. Wilson by attempting to turn the whole issue on the character of Huerta, who was the de facto president when Mr. Wil- son became president of the United States. Th Kk Mr. Hughes, “Would you have recognized Huerta?’ The answer is that any one of several courses could have been adopted, pro- vided only that the course adopted { had been followed with resolution and those | fortunes as | ed no more | | there is the United States ‘will | to decide what means | with acceptance of the responsi- bility involved. “There was much to be said in fa- vor of the polley of recognizing Hu- erta and avoiding intervention. Thero was also much to be said in favor of the policy of refusing to recognize Huerta, which was intervention, and then of fully accepting the responsi- bility implied in intervention. nothing to be said in favor of wobbling between the two policies, and neither recognizing Huerta nor accepting the responsibility for the | chaos caused by failure to recognize him. Yet this was the course Mr. Wilson followed. “There was no escuse for the rec- ognition of Carranza in view of Mr. Wilson's apologists say that Huerta All the objections to Huerta applied with greater force to Carranza. Mr. Wilson’s apologists say thata Huerta s the murderer of Mexicans. But . Wilson himself, as quoted above, has shown that Carranza was the mur- derer of Americans. Therefore Mr. Wilson treats the murder of Mexicans as a bar to recognition; but not the murder of both Americans and Mexs-~ icans. And now, having condoned the ted murders of Americans by the in placin rranza in is Mr. V reward, and who pays it? The reward is that Mr. Wilson has to place 150,000 troops on the border to partially prevent the raids and murders that his friend Mr. Car- za will not or can not prevent. . Wilson’s course has been precise- ly like that of a police commissioner who declined to permit his police- men to use their nightsticks against burglars, and instead i ed that the householders should sit up all night so as to scare the burglars away. power, what “It should be a cardinal rule of con- duct in international as in individual affairs never to hit if hitting can pos- sibly be avoided; but never under any circumstances to hit soft. Mr. Wilson has been engaged in continual hit- ting. But he has always hit soft. And whenever his opponent has hit back he has promptly dropped his arms, stopped hitting and taken refuge in platitudes about peace, non-inter- vention and humanity. Where, how- ever, his opponent was sufficiently weak, as In the case of Haiti, he has dropped these platitudes, and has (with ‘blood-spilling’) intervened. Haiti did not behave as badly to us as Mexico behaved; but Mr. Wilson in- tervened, fought the Haitiens, shed- ding their blood and the blood of our troops, took possession and now has our armed forces in control of Haiti and directing its government. His course of action in Haiti can be de- fended only if his course of action in Mexico is unqualifiedly condemned; for such action was far more needed in Mexico than in Haiti. But there was a difference in the two cases; and to Mr. Wilson it was a vital dif- ference. Haiti was weaker than Mex- ico. No one was afraid of Haiti. “We are told that the mass of the voters, the mass of the American people, will approve the policy of the administration, the policy of drift, the of spineless failure to do our v to ourselves and to athers be- couse they belicve in ‘safety first. such being the case, it is worth while cxamining just what ‘safety’ or ‘safety first’ means, and how far a policy based only considerations cf safety is mater advantageous 1d morally justifiable, “To treat * as an indispen- cable element of any continuous na- tional policy is eminently proper. It is indispensable to wisdem that we all shape our military policy so as selves—our home country, 11 our islands—abso- utely safe against successful attack by any great Eurapean or atic mili- i r. To this ent safety with duty. But this ulti- fety in the future is to be ob- not by shirking but by per- | forming our duty in the present, ‘When President Wilson two years , assured the American nation that there was no need for preparednes: neced for worry about our military tcomings, na need for self-sac- fice and effort in order to make good these shortcomings, he was sacrificing cur future safety to considerations af rentary political popularity ob- d by pandering to popular de- @ire for the enjoyment of material ind the avaidancd of effort and | erious facing of duties. Mr. Wil- son then put ‘safety first' as compared to duty; but he put it last as com- pared to momentary enjoyvment of case and material pleasures, and lazy mate | refusal to face facts, “I hold that this was cxactly the! reverse of what he ought to have @one. I hold that it is our clear duty to sac ce some of our pre: and soft enjoy in order to guarantec our future tional safety. I hold that we s pre the ample safeg: of the age which our fathers left ould | | us and which our children should re- ceive from us undiminished. I there- as I have before said, ! sheuld we provide a big | navy and a small and | army, but that we | fore believe that not on ana eflicient efficient regular chould also ! obligatory military training of our voung men, on the Swiss and Aus- {ralian models. With all my heart I pelieve in insuring the safety that can only come through the full perform- ance of duty, by the exercise of cour- ly nothing, and the | age and forethought under the com- But | | provide for a system of | reer NEW, BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1916. pulsion of a high sense of honor and patriotism, “But this is not in the least what Mr. Wilson’s advocates mean When they ask us to support him, because he and they are for ‘safety first.” They are for the unworthy safety that is merely obtained by the abandon- ment of duty. They are for the mo- mentary safety which shortsighted men secure when they purchase escape from present risk and effort at the cast of future disaster. They are for the ‘safety’ of each man to spend his time in moneymaking and in flabby ease, at the cost of remain- ing untrained and unfit to render Ser- vice to the nation in the nation’s hour of need. They are for the mean safety which this nation secured when it treated The Hague conventions, which it had signed, like scraps of paper and declined to make even a protest on behalf of tortured Belgium. They are for the safety this nation temporarily secured by tame submission to the murder of its men, women, and chil- dren on land by Mexican bandits, and at sea in the Lusitania and similar cases by German submarines. This kind of ‘safety first’ means duty last, honor last, courage last. I da not be- ieve that it is obtained at the cost of moral degradation in the present and at the risk of national ruin in the future. An Opiate to Idealism, “Since 1912 we have had faur years of a policy which has been an opiate to the spirit of idealism. It has meant the relaxation of our moral fibre. Horror of war, combined with a sordid appeal to self-interest and to fear, has paralyzed the national con- science. We have been told that Americans, if they do not wish to be killed, shauld leave Mexico and should keep off the ocean; that to save a few American lives it is not worth worth while to hazard the lives of Ameri- can soldiers; that Mexicans should be ajlowed ta spill blood to their hearts’ content; that the European war is no concern of ours; that even as between Belgium and Germany we should be neutral not only in act but in sym- rathy. “Not once has President Wilson squarely placed before the American people the question which Abraham Lincoln put before the American peo- ple in 1860; what is our duty? Not once has he appealed to moral ideal- ism, to the stern enthusiasm of strong men for the fight. On the contrary, he has employed every elocutionary device to lull to sleep our sense of duty, to make us content with words instead of deeds, to make our moral idealism and enthusiasm evaporate in empty phrases Instead of being re- duced to concrete action. America as a nation has been officially kept in a position of timid indifference and cold selfishness. America, which sprang to the succor of Cuba in 1898, has stood an idle spectator of the invasion of Belgium of the sinking of the Lusi- tania, of the continued slaughter of our own citizens, and of the reign of anarchy, rapine and murder in Mexico. “Nevertheless I believe that the American people were ready for the same kind of appeal which was made to them by Abraham Lincoln in 1860 by the advocates of an honest cur- rency in 1896, by the advocates of the Spanish war in 1898, by the advocates of nationalism in 1900. But the ap- pearl was not made. On the con- trary, Mr. Wilson invoked the spirit of timidity and selfishness. He made no effort to invoke theé sense of duty. He put ‘safety first,’ the immediate safety of the moment, to be obtained by shrinking from duty. He did not even put American rights first, still less did he put American duty first. “His Task Not Difficult.” “His task was not an especially dif- ficult or dangerous task; but it needed a brave heart and a steady hand. Un- der his lead America could and should have put itself at the head of all the neutral nations, by its example if not by direct diplomatic agreements, in demanding that the war should be conducted in accordance with the usage of clvilized nations, that inter- national law should be observed, that the rights of neutrals and non.com- batants should be respected. “If thie spirit had animated our administration there would probably have been no invasion of Belglum, no fears of a like fate to terrorize other smaller nations, no torpedoing of mer- chant vessels, no bombarding of churches and hospitals, no massacring of women and children, no murder of Miss Cavell, no attempted extermina- tion of the Armenians and Syrian Christians. “It is just that this nation should concern fitself with its rights; but it is even more necessary that it should concern itself with its duties. As between Mr. Hughes and Mr. Wilson, who can doubt which is the man who will, with austere courage, stand for the national duty? Mr. Wilson’s words have contradicted one another; and all his words have been contra- dicted by his aets. Mr. Wilson’s promise has not borne the slightest reference to his performance, “We have against him in Mr. Hughes a man whose public life is a guarantee that whatever he says he will make good, and that all his words will be borne out by his deeds. Against Mr. Wilson's combination of grace in elocution with futility in action; | against his record of words unbached by deeds or betrayed by deeds, we set Mr. Hughes' rugged and uncomprom ing straightforwardness of character and action in every office he has held. We put the man who thinks and speaks directly, and whose words have always been made good, against the man whose adroit and facile elocution is used to conceal his plans or want of plans. “The next four vearé may well be vears of tremendous national strain. Which of the two men do vou, the American people, wish at the helm during these four yecars—tha man who has been actually tried and found wanting, or the man whose whole ca- in public office is a guarantce of his power and good falth? But one answer is possible; and it must be given by the American people through the election of Charles Evans Hughes as president of the United States.” ) FOR THE INFORMATION OF THE PUBLIC: The Railroads’ statement of their posi- tion on the threatened strike, as presented to the President of the United States A strike on 2ll the railroads of the country has been called by the Train Brotherhoods for 7 o’clock Monday morning, September 4. This strike was ordered from Washington while the President of the United States was making every effort to avert the disaster. The Final Railroad Proposal The final proposal made by the railroads for a peaceful settlement of the con= troversy, but which was rejected by the brotherhoods, was as follows: (a) The railroads will, effective September 1, 1016, keep the time of all men represented in this movement, upon an 8 hour basis and by separate account, monthly, with each man, maintain a record of the difference between the money actually earned by him on the present basis and the amount that would have been earned upon an 8 hour basis—overtime on each basis to be computed pro rata. The amounts so shown will be subject to the decision of the Commission, provided for in Paragraph (c) of this memorandum and payable in money, as* may be directed by said Commission in its findings and decision. (b) The Interstate Commerce Commission to supervise the keeping of these accounts and report the increased cost of the 8 hour basis, after such period of actual experience as their judgment approves or the President may fix, not, however, less than three months. (¢) In view of the far-reaching consequences of the declaration made by the President, accepting the 8 hour day, not only upon the railroads and the classes of labor involved directly in this controversy, but te the public and upon all industry, it seems plain that before the existing conditions are changed, the whole subject in so far as it affects the railroads and their employees, should be investigated and determined by a Commission to be appointed by the President, of such standing as to compel attention and respect to its findings. The judgment of such a Commission would be a helpful basis for adjustments with labor and such legislation as intelligent public opinion, se informed, might demand. Statement of Executives to the President In submitting this proposal to the President, the fifty railroad executives called to Washington and representing all the great artezies of traffic, made this statement te him of their convictions: The demands in this controversy have not been presented, in our judgment, for the purpose of fixing a definite daily period of labor, nor a reduction in the existing hours of labor or change in methods of opera- tion, but for the real purpose of accomplishing an increase in wages of approximately One Hundred Million Dollars per annum, or 35 per cent. for the men in railroad freight train and yard service represented by the labor organizations in this matter. After careful examination of the facts and patient and continuous consultation with the Conference Committee of Managers, and among ourselves, we have reached a clear understanding of the magnitude of the questions, and of the serious consequences to the railroads and to the public, involved in the decision e them. Trustees for the Public for the great mass of the less powerful employees (not less than 8o per cent. of the whole number) interested in the railroad wage fund—as trustees also for the millions of people that have invested their savings and capital in the bonds and stock of these properties, and who through the saving banks, trust companies and insurance companies, are vitally interested to the extent of millions of dollars, in the integrity and solvency of the railroads of the country, we cannot in conscience surrender without a hearing, the principle involved, nor undertake to transfer the enormous cost that will result to the transportation of the commerce of he country. The eight-hour day without punitive overtime involves an annual increase, approximately, in the aggregate of Sixty Millions of Dollars, and an increase of more than 20 per cent. in the pay of the men, already the most highly paid in the transportation service. The ultimate cost to the railroads of an admission in this manner of the principle under contention cannot now be estimated; the effect upon the effi- ciency of the transportation of the country now already under severe test under the tide of business now moving, and at a time when more, instead of less, effort is required for the public welfare, would be harmful beyond calculation. The widespread effect upon the industries of the country as a whole is beyond measure or appraise- ment at this time, and we agree with the insistent and widespread public concern over the gravity of the situation and the consequences of a surrender by the railroads in this emergency. In like manner we are deeply impressed with the sense of our responsibility to maintain and keep open the arteries of transportation, which carry the life blood of the commerce of the country, and of the consequences that will flow from even temporary {nterruption of service over the railroads, but the issues presented have been raised above and beyond the social and monetary questions involved, and the responsibility for the consequences that may arise will rest upon those that provoke it. Public Investigation Urged The questions involved are in our respectful judg- ment, eminently suitable for the calm investigation and decision by the public through the agency of fair arbitration, and cannot be disposed of, to the publie satisfaction, in any other manner. The decision of a Commission or Board of Arbis tration, having the public confidence, will be accepted by the public, and the social and financial rearrange- ments made necessary thereby will be undertaken by the public, but in no less deliberate nor orderly manner. The railroads of the country cannot under present conditions assume this enormous increase in their expenses. If imposed upon them, it weuld involve many in early financial embarrassment and bank- ruptcy and imperil the power of all to maintain their credit and the integrity of their securities. The immediate increase in cost, followed by other increases that would be inevitable, would substan- tially appropriate the present purchasing power of the railroads and disable them from expanding and improving their facilities and equipment, to keep abreast of the demands of the country for efficient transportation service. In good faith we have worked continuously and earnestly in a sincere effort to solve the problem in justice to all the parties at interest. These efforts were still in progress when the issuance of the strike order showed them to be unavailing. Problem Threatens Democracy Itself The strike, if it comes, will be forced upon the country by the best paid class of laborers in the world, at a time when the country has the greatest need for transportation efficiency. The problem presented is not that alone of the railroad or business world, but involving democracy itself, and sharply presents the question whether any group of citizens should be allowed to possess the power to imperil the life of the country by conspiring to block the arteries of commerce. HALE HOLDEN, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad. W. W. ATTERBURY, Pennsylvania Railroad. FAIRFAX HARRISON, Southern Railway. R.S. LOVETT, B. P, RIPLEY, Union Pacific System Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe System. A. H. SMITH, New York Cenirsi Lines. FRANK TRUMBULL, ! Chesapeake & Ohio Raffwape DANIEL WILLARD, i Basltimore and Obkio Railrosd.