Evening Republican, Volume 22, Number 175, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 July 1919 — MEXICAN SITUATION DEMANDS VIRILE AMERICANISM. [ARTICLE]

MEXICAN SITUATION DEMANDS VIRILE AMERICANISM.

Weshi ngto n, July 26.—The Republican Publicity association today gave out the following statement f#om its Washington headquarters through fts president, Hoai. Jonathan Bourne, Jr.: “The Mexican situation grows | daily more threatening. Closely fol-1 lowing the murder of an American ' citizen in the Tampico distract, j comes the report of an attack on a party of American soldiers in uni-, form and occupying a boat flying the American flag. This latest in- j suit took place within three miles: of the town of Tampico, where it. is estimated 1,200 Carranza soldiers i are stationed. Doubtless immediate demands will be made By the United States for an explanation and an apology, which ma(y or may not be forthcoming. But, in any event, these mokt recent manifestations are merely two more incddenits in the long and unbroken record of murders, confiscations, and insults to everything American that has marked Mexico’s relations with this country since the downfall of the Diaz regime and the inauguration of the Wilson policy of watchful waiting. That policy has been interpreted by the Mexicans as a standing invitation to commit any excess they pleased against citizens of the United States, and it will be so treated just so long as it continues to prevent retaliatory measures by this country. “Is it not about time to call a halt, and return to the only honorable course that a self-respecting nation can follow, that of extending protection of the American flag to every citizen wherever he may be? There is no doubt that patriotism is decidedly on the wane in this country. From every side come ihgsdfdTscbhten?? Societies of various sorts, and of differing creeds on some subjects, are united .in attacks upon the existing government and demands for its overthrow. . The mails are fillled with propaganda, and new publications are springing up almost every day for the spread of their doctrines. Members of these organizations see in our federal government merely an institution for the levying of killing taxes; for the commandeering and withholding from private consumption of great quantities of food, cißothing, and other necessities of life; for seeking to guarantee in advance our entrance into all the foreign wars of the future; and for aiding in and making certain the success of huge loans by a combination of American bankers to newly created and irresponsible European states. While 'the government is engaged in these activities the people witness the wanton murder of our citizens at every door, accompanied by the wholesale destruction of American property, and repeated insults to our flag. Is there little wonder that with these facts before them some classes of our people are insistent for a change? “What this country needs above any other one thing is a stimulation to its paitriotism. Let the people see in thedr government an organization whose sole object is the maintenance of the welfare of the citizen and the protection of his life and property 1 , and it will receive ungrudging support from the public. Let those qualities be lacking, and in their Stead appear the interests enumerated above, and the government will surely lose the support of the people, without which it cannot survive. “One of the most positive steps we can take toward the rejuvenation of national pride is the adoption of a Mexican policy that will have for its objects the protection of American life and property and the establishment of law and order in that distracted country. We need but to repeat our record in Cuba, -where we staid only long enough to put the country firmly on its feet, and provide for the continuance of orderly Such an attitude toward Mexico w-iould do more than any other thing to amalgamate the varying schools, of thought in this country, and win the confidence and respect of other nations.”