The Commoner
SEPTEMBER, 1914
13
"Watchful Waiting" Wins in Mexico
A VICTORY OF PEACE
Addressing congress on the Mexi
ean question on the 27th of August
last, the president closed his remarks
with theso words:
"The steady pressure of moral
force will before many days break
the barriers of pride and prejudice
down, and we shall triumph as Mex
ico's friends sooner than we could
triumph as her enemies and how
much more handsomely, and with
how much higher and finer satisfac
tions of conscience and honor!
Jingoism pretended to stand aghast
at this sentiment, which put an end to
hopes of aggression on our part, but
time has established its truth.
If we had gone to war with Mexico
& year ago the problem south of the
Rio Grande would not have been so
near its true solution today as it now
is. Many bloody battles would have
been fought. We should be in pos
session of a hostile country. An army
of not less than a quarter of a mil
lion would be doing garrison duty.
We should be mourning the loss of
thousands of bravo men and our ex
penditures and debt would be increas
ing by hundreds of millions.
Even so, our neighbors would not
be pacified, and the bitterness cre
ated by our intervention would every
where be stifling the aims of enlight
ened Mexicans in the direction of
peace and progress. By exercising
patience and self-restraint, we have
done more than save ourselves the
cost of unnecessary war. We have
given a great country an opportunity
to rehabilitate itself. Instead of as
sisting in the destruction of a nation,
we have played an important part in
Its regeneration.
The venom of Huerta's valedictory
"was to have been expected, and ig
norance and misrepresentations will
no doubt predjudice many Mexicans
against us for years to come: but as
President Wilson finely said in the ad
dress referred to, " we shall have
many an occasion in happier times to
show that our friendship is genuine
and disinterested."
Long after the economic and poli
tical issues of the day shall have been
forgotten, Wilson and Bryan, the
peacemakers and republic-builders,
will be remembered and honored
throughout the two Americas. New
York World.
THE PRESIDENT'S TRIUMPH
At the present moment the critics
of the Mexican policy of President
Wilson stand on the defensive. It
is just as well that they should real
ize that this is th case and prepare
to answer some searching questions.
They have not kept silent as to their
doubts and fears. These gentlemen
have been as audible as the town
crier. They have filled the earth
with their clamors, and, in their cam
paign of deprecation, have compassed
sea and land to make one proselyte.
They should not be spared in this day
of the harvest of the policy they have
been ridiculing.
Look at the situation! Huerta, the
butcher, is out. He went out in good
order. Not a rifle cracked. Not a
barricade was thrown up. Not a drop
of blood, native or foreign, was shed.
He did not even imprison a congress
man. The dictator resigned in form;
his successor was regularly appoint
ed. The capital felt no excitement.
Nor is this all. The promise of
the future is very different from what
it was when Diaz fled. Then there
was no leadership to fall back on.
Today the City of Mexico calmly ex
pects the arrival of the leader of an
army which has won brilliant vlc-
Seldom I as a specific state
policy been crowned with
snch complete success as has
the president's Mexican pol-
icy. So exalted were his
2 ideals, and so far-flung his
appeals to tho human con-
science, that many who syni-
pathized with his purpose
questioned his judgment, and
few of his most ardent admir-
crs expected to see such sig-
mil success. To have failed
would have cost him the re-
spoct of no reasonable person,
for all accorded him honesty
of purpose; but to succeed,
and succeed in such measure,
is to raise international rcla-
tions to a new plane. The
Public, Chicago.
0
tories, developed generals of genuine
strategic sense and pacified northern
Mexico. The constitutionalists have
a policy and an organization.
Still the tale is not told. There is
no fear of outrages on citizens of the
United States, for our citizens are
not there. They have withdrawn
from the area of disturbance.
How much has the Wilson policy
had to do with all this?
With respect to the last point there
can be no question. The President
caused American citizens to withdraw
from Mexico while yet there was
time.
With respect to Huerta's abdica
tion, we may say perhaps trust Huer
ta himself. He expressly attributes
his downfall to the attitude of our
government. Never was a' demise
more gently accomplished. We have
not declared war; with tho exception
of the Vera-Cruz custom-house, we
have not occupied Mexican territory.
The Tampico incident has been peace
fully adjusted. Wo have shown that
a usurper and a tyrant could be
forced to lay down that which he had
wrongfully siezed by the passive re
sistance of a powerful neighbor. Non
recognition and nonintercourse are
the mild but effective means the pres
ident has employed.
With respect to the constitution
alists, the fruits of the Wilson policy
are no less marked. By refraining
from forcible intervention we have
left the constitutionalists to pursue,
unvexed by us, their conquest of Mex
ico. It has taken time to consolidate
their government, to find leaders of
force, to discipline their army, to sub
stitute an organization for a mob.
The Wilson policy in Mexico supplied
the necessary time. It gave the forces
of growth in the north a chfcnce.
In the face of this peaceful abdi
cation, this instinctive turning of the
Mexican capital to the strong men of
the north, what further vindication
by the event could the Wilson policy
demand? Everything that its author
anticipated from it has, thus far, re
sulted. What would his critics have
had? Do they wish we had an army
of occupation in Mexico today, and
faced, on the eve of the opening of
the Panama canal, a Latin-American
blaze of resentment and wrath from
Jaurez to Cape Horn?
Is it not time to confess that the
president pursued the only policy
that a rational view of the whole sit
uation warranted, and that his critics
and contemners were simply indulg
ing the luxury of unlimited talk,
without either clear ideas as to an
alternative policy or exact and care
ful appraisement of the passing event
as tidings of it transpired? St.
Loui3 Republic.
WILSON AND MEXICO
The abdication of President Huerta
Is a triumph for President WilBon.
Even the most scornful critics of tho
president's foreign policy will have
to admit that fact. The policy that
was never going to get anywhoro has
got somewhere not to tho ultimate
goal by a' long way, but to a wayside
oasis which gives promise of at least
temporary peace and a chance that it
may bo made permanent.
President Wilson was determined
that Huerla must go, and Huerta has
gone. President Wilson was deter
mined that tho United States should
not offer forcible intervention oxcopt
as a last resort. The United States
walked right to the edge of interven
tion and oven leaned ovor a bit, but
the culmination did not come. Presi
dent Wilson adopted a policy of
watchful waiting In tho hope that the
Mexicans would work out a solution
of their own. Tho Mexicans havo
worked out a solution at least fin
experiment by way of solution. The
consequences of the experiment, what
ever they may be, can hardly bo more
disastrous than tho consequences of
tho Huerta experiment.
It was President Wilson's first idea
to conciliate the differences between
tho Mexican factions. When this
proved impractical the president had
to place his reliance on either Huerta
or Carranza'. He chose Carranza, who
stood, nominally at least for the prin
ciples of constitutional liberty for
which the president had declared
early in his administration. After tho
moral Bupport of the United States
was thrown to the constitutionalists
physical suppoYt was given them in
the liberation of arms and ammuni
tion shipments, without which they
could not have conquered. Instead of
a provisional government represent
ing both sides, ther will bo a mil
itary provisional government in the
hands of the constitutionalists. If
this government should live up to its
opportunities even measurably, Pres
ident Wilson will have no reason to
regret his share in bringing it about.
Should the constitutonallsts' ex
periment prove a failure, soon or late,
the last chance for avoiding American
possibly pan-American Interven
tion will be swept away. If, as it not
at all unlikely, there should be trou
ble between Carranza and Villa, and
perhaps other leaders, resulting in
further revolutionary disturbances.
all' possible plans short of outside su
pervision have been tried. Should
American intervention then be com
pelled it will be plain at home and
abroad that it was in fact a last re
sort, left untried until the emptiness
of all other solutions had been dem
onstrated. Sioux City (la.) Journal.
countries havo joined with tho ruling
clnssos In that country to exploit tb
many, but now thero is indication of.
bottor conditions with respoct to tk
rights of tho masses, for with tat
aid of this country, whose efforts are
for poaco and rlghtoous rule, it Is now
possible for tho speedy end of hostil
ities and the inauguration of an or
derly government that will offer pro
tection to lifo and property and pre
serve tho rights of citizens of all
classes.
While Mexico still has a rtiggod
road before It In sotting up an order
ly government and recovering from
tho terrible effects of war, tho way
has boon oponod by tho friendly hand
of this country through an adminis
tration of poaco and progress, and
now to those who scoffod at and rid
iculed Presldont Wilson for his policy
of poaco thero is nothing for them to
do but to confess that, "peace hath
hor victories no less ronownod than
war." Nashville Tcnnessean.
WILSON'S PEACE POLICY TRI
UMPHING With the passing of Huerta comes
increased evidence of the wisdom
of President Wilson's peace pol
icy as relates to the Mexican
trouble, for now the vexed
problems of government in Mexico
are nearing solution, and it is confi
dently expected, with the Insolent
dictator and usurper out, that the
friendly offices of the United States
will be effective in bringing order out
of chaos by aiding the people of that
benighted and oppressed country in
setting up a stable constitutional
government.
The masses of the people of Mexico
have long suffered, both in times of
peace, under the rule of adventurers
and despots and in periods of revo
lution when their efforts through ig
norance have been misdirected and
ineffective. Investors in Mexican
mines and industries living in other
WILSON'S TRIUMPH IN MEXICO
Tho President's Mexican policy,
concerning which thero have been
many misgivings, has triumphed. Tho
Dictator has resigned. A constitu
tional government is to bo establish
ed. There will ovontually bo poaco
at home and poaco with tho United
States.
When General Huerta on tho 18th
of February, 1913, telegraphed to
President Tnft, "I havo overthrown
this government and tho forces aro
with me," ho had no thought of tho
man who in two weoks was to bo tho
president of the United StateB, or of
tho forces that that man would array
against the Mexican usurpation.
One week after Mr. Wilson's Inau
guration ho gave duo warning to
General Huerta and all other Latin
American chieftains who gain office
by intrigue and assassination when ho
said: "We can have no sympathy with
those who seize tho power of govern
ment to advance their own personal
interests and ambitions." Huerta
laughed at this avowal, and not a few
citizens of the United States pro
nounced it visionary and fantastic.
Yet the new Amorlcan doctrine
that usurpation is not to be recog
nized on this hemisphere has been
established in the one country whore
its success seemed most doubtful.
Against Huerta's airy "assumption
Wilson arrayed adamantine con
science. In opposition to the tyrant's
armed forces Wilson marshalled tho
forces of liberty and justice.
It has taken somo hard fighting In
Mexico to overthrow tho man who
overthrow the government, but moral
courage of a higher order has been
needed to enable tho administration
at Washington to hold true to its
principles. The triumph Is ours as
well as Mexico's. The honor of vic
tories won In the r.c-.lms of morals,
is no less than that of battles gained
on bloody fields.
Thanks to Woodrow Wilson, a
great country and an oppressed peo
ple aro upon tho threshold of a new
epoch. New York World.
THE GREAT ACHIEVEMENT
There is occasion for rejoicing that
in President Wilson and Secretary
Bryan this nation in the Mexican
crisis was governed by decision of
what was right, and steadfastly ad
hered to its convictions; that in the
president and secretary of state we
have two men who shrink instinctive
ly from war as from a plague and yet
who properly protect the nation's
honor. There is reason to rejoice also,
that they had patience in infinite de
gree, that when others lost their
heads they kept theirs, that when
the nation called for war they la
bored the harder for peace.
It is all as clear as the printed
page now. It could not be clearer
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