Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, October 31, 1916, Page 14

THE BEE: OMAHA, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 81, 1916. (POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.) (POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT) (POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.) (POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENT.) s YA T i -~ Has He Kept Us Out of War? “HE KEPT us out of war" is offered by the Demo- cratic Party as a statement of a supreme accomplishment. ~ That slogan is false. To accept it with- out thought or reason is danger- ous to the life of the nation. For months we have been con- ducting a border war with Mexico. At Vera Cruz we demanded that our flag be saluted. 'The demand was refused. 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 se- rious fact of war. If the slaughter of American citi- / zens—men, women and children— by armed troops, if the killing of American soldiers by the soldiers 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 Mex- icans say it is war. Wilson's acts show it is war, but Wilson's voice says it is peace. The Truth is that it is more than war. Itis war without honor and murder without reparation. [t 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 Mexico and border war with us. . The vacillating and irresolute policy of the present administration has brought humiliation upon this country, 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.” . Thefactisthathe has neglected our greatest trgasures—the lives of our . citizens and the honor of our coun- try. It is the world war ‘in Europe, not-the acts of the Wilson adminis- tration, 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 combination of European nations " to demand of us that we stop the disorder in Mexico, to de- mand protection of the lives and vast property of European citi- zens in Mexico, to declare that these European nations would give protection 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 en- force order in Mexicaq, which was the only duty consistent with the stewardship which we assumed un- * der the Monroe Doctrine; or it would have\meant war or the sur- render of the Monroe Doctrine. It was the accident of war in Europe which then prevented retri- bution for the policies of the admm- istration in Mexico. When the war is over thoae nations will again press their claims and we will face the con- - sequences of the Wilson policy of watchful waiting. Have we sunk so low that we can approve such a policy? Have we become so morally flabby that we- will tolerate its continuance? This administration has created wat. It has created causes for future serious international friction. Notes and words and shades ‘of meaning born of rhetoric rather than straightforward pa- triotic ' sincerity, have marked the course of our relations with foreign nations. ( ; Force of character, a fair and honorablecourse, would have closed the debate which facility of language kept open. Force of character would have stopped murder on the highsea.( 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 staminaforour children? 4 It is our tradition to honorably ‘keep out of war but not to spine- lessly 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 na- tion. %A Nation Which Does Not Protect lts Own Citizens Has Already Begun to Die.” Republican National Publicity Committes «