New Britain Herald Newspaper, October 28, 1916, Page 5

/ NEW BRITAIN DAILY HERALD, SATURDAY, OCTOB ER 28, 1916, Has He Kept Us Out of War? “HE KEPT us out of war” is offered by the Democratic Party as a statement of a supreme accomplishment. That slogan is false. To accept it without thought or reason is danger- ous to the life of the nation. For months we have been conducting a bor- der war with Mexico. At Vera Cruz we demand- ed that our flag be saluted. We landed troops; a battle followed. WE WITHDREW WITHOUT THE SALUTE, BRINGING NINETEEN OF OUR DEAD WITH US AND LEAVING OUR HONOR BEHIND; AND TO THIS DAY THE SALUTE DEMANDED HAS NOT BEEN FIRED. The weakness of Mexico, not the strength of the United States, is all that has prevented our act of war from being turned into the serious fact of war. If the slaughter of American Ccitizens— men, women and children—Dby armed troops, if the killing of American soldiers by the sold- iers of another nation, if the sacking of our towns is not war, what is it? The Judge Advocate General of our army says it is war. The Mexicans say it is war. Wil- son’s ACTS show it is war, but Wilson’s VOICE says it is peace. The Truth is that it is more than war. It is war without honor and murder without reparation. IT IS A CONDITION THAT MAKES EVERY TRUE CITIZEN ASHAMED OF THE SPECTACLE WE HAVE BECOME IN THE EYES OF OTHER NATIONS. Wilson’s course vitalized civil war in Mex- ico and border war with us. The vacillating and irresolute policy of the present adminis- tration has brought humiliation upon this coun- try, both at home and abroad. We have been at war; we are now at war; many lives have been lost; our honor has been besmirched, and yet the Democratic Party cries to the nation “He kept us out of war,” “He has protected me and mine.” The fact is that he has NEG- LECTED our greatest treasures—the lives of our citizens and the honor of our country. It is the world war in Europe, not the acts of the Wilson administration, which has kept us out of international complications that would have sorely tried our courage, and our strength. JUST PRIOR TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE WAR THERE WAS FORMING A COMBINA- TION OF EUROPEAN NATIONS TO DEMAND THAT WE STOP THE DISORDER IN MEXICO, TO DEMAND PROTECTION OF THE LIVES AND VAST PROPERTY OF EUROPEAN CITI- ZENS IN MEXICO, TO DECLARE THAT THESE EUROPEAN NATIONS WOULD GIVE PROTEC- TION BY FORCE OF ARMS IF WE DID NOT. What would that have meant? It would have meant that we must adopt a determined policy to enforce order in Mexico, which was the only duty consistent with the stewardship which we assumed under the Monroe Doctrine; or it would have meant war or the surrender of the Monroe Doctrine. It was the accident of war in Europe which then prevented retribution for the policies of the administration in Mexico. WHEN THE WAR IS OVER THOSE NA- TIONS WILL AGAIN PRESS THEIR CLAIMS AND WE WILL FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE WILSON POLICY OF WATCHFUL WAIT- ING. Have we sunk so low that we can approve such a policy? Have we become so morally flab- by that we tolerate its continuance? This administration has created war. It has created causes for future serious international friction. NOTES AND WORDS AND SHADES OF MEANING BORN OF RHETORIC RATHER THAN STRAIGHTFORWARD PATRIOTIC SIN- CERITY, HAVE MARKED THE COURSE OF OUR RELATIONS WITH FOREIGN NATIONS. Force of character, a fair and honorable course, would have closed the debate which facil- ity of language kept open. Force of character would have stopped murder on the high sea. Does the low estate into which we have fallen among nations make a foundation upon which to build prestige for this country or safety and moral stamina for our childern. It is our tradition to honorably KEEP OUT OF war but not to spinelessly CREEP INTO war. Mr. Wilson has not kept us out of war. Mr. Wilson has put us into war. MR. WILSON IS MAKING WAR UPON THE MORAL FIBER OF THIS NATION. “A Nation Which Does Not Protect Its Own Citizens Has Already Begun to Die” Republican National Publicity Committee