ognlze the need of the policeman on the
beat, the safe in the bank and the watch
dog on the farm.
We pray for the millennium but we ac
cept things an they are. As men of common
serine we realize that, for a nation, the
policy of turning the other cheek when un
justly smitten means national decapitation
and a funeral at which our people would be
the mourners, our enemies our heirs.
We fought one war for existence and one
. for survival. We fought one war to exclude
foreign influence and another to preserve
Internal peace. And we would fight four
more wars for the same reasons, but the
reasons we must have. When necessity de
mands we stand ready to meet with force
the enemies of our liberty, the defamers of
our honor and the foes of our Integrity.
The war across the seas has brought home
to us the fear that so long as men are men
and nations nations, wars will continue.
We have been aroused from our dreams
of the millennium to the knowledge that
nothing that men cherish Is safe from as
sault; that the man who would preserve his
rights to life, to liberty and to happiness,
must stand ready to defend those rights
with the last drop -of his blood.
We have been carried too close to the
rocks of war during the past two years to
believe that those rocks do not exist. And
looking Into the future we can perceive that
If our sovereignty is not challenged, if our
peace is not assailed it will only be because
the world knows that we are strong enough
to defend ourselves from every foe.
For these reasons this administration has
done more for our army and our navy thin
any administration in our history.
More than this, it has mobilized the re-
sources of the nation to meet the needs of
war. It has placed the wealth of the coun
try back of the strength of the country, the
toiler back of the Boldler and the sailor.
And to our opponents we say you cint
create an army, can't build a navy in the
course of a day; to them we say if our navy
is not strong enough, if our army is not big
enough, the Republican party is eighty per
cent, to blame, for the Kepublican party
has been in control of the nation 80 per
cent, of the time during the past fifty years.
The Democratic party advocates and seeks
preparedness, but it is preparedness for de
fense, not preparedness for aggression.
It Is the preparedness which builds the
nation's house upon a rock, so it will not
fall when the rains descend and the floods
come and the winds blow.
We may look upon preparedness with as
little favor as we look upon taxes, but we
pay the taxes because we want the protec
tion for which the taxes pay.
Democracy refuses to be frightened by
those who pretend to fear that this great
land of freedomjwlll descend Into the abyss
of militarism.
It knows that militarism can no more
thrive in this country than the cockle and
the tare can thrive amid the wheat o the
husbandman who loves his land. It knows
that preparedness, that reasonable prepared
ness, will not kill democracy in this coun
try any more than it killed democracy in
Switzerland. It knows that reasonable pre
paredness will ensure, us peace just as it en
sured peace for Switzerland though war
thundered at her doors. -
Militarism in the United States is as Im
possible as the shadow of a ghost in the
mid-day sun. We had a triumphant army
In 1776, we had an invincible navy in 1812
and in 1860 we had the two greatest armies
the world had ever seen. .
Hut when the crisis passed that called
these freemen to the colors the first to leap
forward at their country's call were the
first to return to the furms and factories
whence they came.
From the ranks of democracy they came
as silently as Putnam left his plough In an
swer to the shot heard nround the world;
and back to democracy they went as silently
os the Southern heroes whose horses Cirant
returned that they might plow the very
fields which had been harrowed by their
cannons' wheels,
NATIONAL soul.
These, then, are tho principles that have
been asserted and followed by the President
of the United States during tho past two
years that the United States shall not em
broil itself in European strife, that the
United States shall endeavor to maintain
friendly and cordial relations with every
other nation and that the United States shall
firmly assert and maintain "nd be prepared
to assert and maintain Its neutral rights
against every belligerent.
Nothing In the assertion of these princi
ples by the President has caused the nation
so many anxious hours as the fear that the
temper of the American people might be
misunderstood.
Efforts have been made and may be made
again to create an impression here and
abroad that in asserting these principles
the President spoke only for a fraction of
the American people, that the nation itself
was divided and that the President's solemn
words could be disregarded because the
American people would not stand solidly be
hind him.
This convention must moke It plain that
nil divisions among the Amerknn people
stop at the ocean's edge. This convention
must declare and must give the country the
means to declare that when the President
of the United states speaks to a foreign
power, he speaks for every cltien of Amer
ica; that when the nation's chief executive
asserts a policy that has been jm Amer
ican policy since the beginning of the
nation, his action has hehim it the force
and strength of a loyal and united people.
We. who know and love Ainetica. know
how f.ilse. how vain, how unreal, are the
effort of tho-te who picture us to the world
ns dlvtilcd ngainst ourselves. We know
Hint ho far as our international relation re
concerned, we hold but one faith, acknowl
edge but one loyalty, follow but one flag.
We of this convention, representing every
section of the United States, speaking for
every racial strain in America, must send
forth a measure to all the world that will
leave no room for dvubt.
We mast tell the world that though we
are of many minds and many bloods, we are
of one heart, one hand, one land, one flag,
one nation now and forever.
We must enable every real American to
stand up and assert his Americanism. We
must make the issue so clear that eveiy
ballot box In the land may become a mon
ument to the loyalty of American manhood.
The citizens of this country will stand
behind their President because his policies
are right. They will stand behind him be
cause his policies are the policies which
have brought the nation a century of pros
perous and honored peace. They will stand
behind him because they want these policies
continued, that prosperity prolonged, that
peace assured.
Vet over and above every other reason
that the nation may have for upholding its
President, Is the necessity of proving to the
world that we are a united people.
So long as the other nations of the earth
realize that the millions under America's
flag think as one, believe as one and act as
one In the face of foreign war, we snail be
free from foreign Intrigue, and all that it
entails. One let the notion get abroad
that this nation is merely a confederation
of diverse and conflicting allegiances, and
we shall never be safe from the machina
tions of foreign powers.
A regard for national surety as well as
a pride of personal honor will therefore
bring the American people the support of
their President. Whether their blood Is
drawn-from the banks of the . Rhine, or
where the River Shannon flows, whether!
they hail from Alpine valleys or the mead
ows of the Pyrenees, whether their descent
be German or French, Irish or English, Aus
trian or Italian, Russian or Greek, the men
who have sworn an oath of fealty to the ,
ideals of America will be true.
When danger threatens our institutions,
when enemies menace our country and our
homes, these adopted sons of ours, whose
names are enrolled on the pages of the na
tion's family, will prove that their blood
is as red, their skin as white, their veins
as blue as the Red and the White and the
Hlue of the flag they have sworn to main
tain and uphold, to sustain and support.
They may love the lands of their fathers
much, but they love the land of their chil
dren more. They may cherish the memory
of the sod from which they sprung, but
they stand ready to die for the soil that
they have hallowed with their homes.
Their loyalty to America is more than
loyally to a name; their allegiance is more
than allegiance to a flag. The man who
serves America serves only the best in him
self. The man who Is loyal to America Is
loyal only to the noblest of humanity's
Ideals. The man who swears allegiance to
America enrolls himself in the ranks of
those who are pledged to freedom, to op
portunity, to Justice and to human progress.
High abovo every other issue that this
convention offers to the American people
we must therefore write a vindication of
American loyalty. Secure in our conviction
that America comes first with every Amer
ican, confident that the great warm heart
of the Republic beats true and strong, con
vinced that the stars of the heavens are
not more firmly fixed in the firmament than
the stars of America's flag are shrined in the
hearts of America's citizens, we must call
upon our countrymen to show their devo
tion and their loyalty, not to a Democratic
President but to the President of the land of
their birth and the land of their adoption;
not to the President of any race, nor any
creed, nor any man, but to the President of
every man, of every creed and of every race;
to the J'resident of our Constitution and our
flag; to the President of these United States,
MEXICAN SITUATION A DIPIjOMATIC
INHERITANCE.
A great deal of criticism has heen di
rected against the present administration
because of the President's advice to Ameri
cans in Mexico to leave that country and
return to the United States. As Is the case
In many matters Involving our foreign re
lations a great part of this criticism is
based upon an incomplete knowledge of the
facts and a failure to take into considera
tion all the phases of the situation. Presi
dent Wilson's advice to Americans to leave
Mexico was not by any means a radical
departure from the policy of the previous
administration. It was merely an affirma
tion and reiteration of an apparently well
considered and wholly Justifiable position
taken by Mr. Taft in 1912 when he adv.sed
Americans to withdraw from localities
where conditions or prospects of lawless
ness threatened the personal safely of
Americans and when he directed consular
officers to take charge of abandoned ef
fects of American citizens. This advice
was applied to practically the entire repub
lic. This plainly shows, therefore, the opin
ion of the Taft administration at that time.
On November 21, 1910, the commanding
general of the Deportment of Texas was
authorized to send troops to the border to
enforce the neutrality laws. Additional
i troops were later sent to patrol the entire
j horder. The War Department early in
February. 1912. held all troops in readiness
for service along tho Mexican border. This
created a situation in Mexico which made
some of the people doubt the stability of
the Madero government and gave rise to
widespread brigandage throughout Mexico.
On February 24, 1912, the Washington au
thorities hinted to the Mexican authorities
that military force was contemplated.
The uth of the matter Is if the Taft ad-mlnists-ation
had given Madero one-tenth
part of the support and assistance that this
administration is giving the de facto govern
ment, President Madero would most as
suredly have been successful in establish
ing peace and order, the alleged crime of
Huerta would not have been committed,
the loss of American lives nd properly
since that time would not have occurred
and Mexico would have been spared the
horrors of the fratricidal war which has
since prevailed there.
On Apr'l 15, 1912. the Department of
State und r President Taft sent what was
practically an ultimatum to the Madero
Government in which intervention was
threatened.
This ultimatum stated that "until more
headway was made in unseating Madero, no
Interviews could be granted, and no com
munications received from insurgents."
It seems that the Taft administration had
devoted itself to a campaign of nagging
and persecuting the struggling government
of Madero. During the early part of Septem
ber, 1912, President Taft stated to Ambassa
dor Caiero that this government wus dis
satisfied with internal conditions in Mex
ico. The newspapers, in reporting the
matter, said:
"Mr. Taft Is opposed to intervention ex
cept as a last resort. It is admitted, how
ever, that conditions in Mexico have be
come much worse in the last few weeks
and If the Madero Government Is unuble
to check the attacks on American citizens,
the United States will be constrained to
take action."
So it will be seen that the situation In
Mexico when Woodrow Wilson became
President was an unfortunate inheritance.
Our opponents say it was President Wil
son's duty to do the very things which
President Taft did not do and for which
they fail to condemn President Taft while
condemning President Wilson.
The Tuft administration had nagged and
persecuted President Madero almost up to
the breaking point; it had shifted its troops
down to the border for the supposed pur
pose of protecting its Ambassador to Mexico,
at a time when such a move weakened and
embarrassed the Madero government; it had
allowed Americans to be killed in Mexico
and American property to be looted and
menaced. About sixty Americans are known
to have been killed during the Taft ad
ministration and yet our opponents assume
for their part a "holier than thou" utU
tude. In view of all the circumstances the last
administration had all the opportunity it
could wish for to send an army Into Mexico
if it had desired to avail Itself, of the justi- ,
flcatlon which our opponents are, now urg-
ing upon this administration..
" Mr. Taft did not believe It wise to sacri
fice thousands of lives and millions of dol
lars in order to Intervene In the Internal
affairs of Mexico.
President Wilson has found nothing so
far which would justify the great sacrifice
of human life which would be necessary to
obtain military control of Mexico.
President Wilson's Mexican policy has
been born of the belief that no permanency
Jin government would be obtained in Mexico
or in any other American republic so long i
las this government was ready to recognize I
; every revolutionist who might secure con
trol. President Wilson's Mexican policy Is con
sistent with the American idea that the
government of any republic should be the
I choice of its people.
1 So long as governments created by force
and financed from without can control in
Mexico just so long will there be no safety
of life or security of property In that
country.
For 50 years, we Jiave been talking Pan
Americanism and Pan-Americanism has
been impossible because the other Ameri
can republics have always suspected sin
ister purposes in our attitude towards them.
But President Wilson's policy has made
every American republic believe for the
first time that our government has no de
sire or purpose to take their territory or
coerce their government. Out of this
European war no man can tell what will
come but this much is certain that it is
vital for the peace and prosperity and honor
of the Western Hemisphere that there be
a fidelity In the pretensions and an honesty
in the relations between the governments
of the American continent.
Our opponents charge that our policy
has been vacillating, that the President in
vaded Mexico and then retreated. The
charge Is not true. Our opponents have
no evidence upon which to base such an
accusation.
Here is the truth about the Vera Cruz
incident. Admiral Mayo was at Tampico.
American sailors and officers were insulted
by Mexican soldiers. A boat crew and pay
master of the United States Navy were
' arrested on the wharf at Tampico by
Huerta's followers. Without the knowl
edge and without any instruction from the
administration at Washington Admiral
Mayo demanded the release of his men,
an apology and a salute to the flag. Huerta's
followers did not comply, and the President
backed up the demands of our officers.
The salute was denied. Vera Cruz was
occupied, not for invasion, but to punish
an insult to the flag and the navy. With
a loss of 300 men Huerta'3 band was pun
ished and the incident was closed. The
Vera Cruz incident did not have its origin
In or any relation to the fixed policy of
President Wilson towards Mexico and the
other American republics.
Our opponents say we invaded Vera Cruz
to help Carranza and hurt Huerta. They
forget that Carranza protested at the land
ing of United States troops In Vera Cruz.
Would Carranza have protested if this
charge of our opponents were true?
In their assault on the Mexican policy
of President Wilson the Republicans make
Elihu Root the blower of their bugle
blast. On this question Senator Hoot again
plays the weather cock and veers in the
! shifting winds of opportunism. What he
urged President Wilson to do in Mexico,
he advised J'resident Taft not to do. And
so 1 say that Senator Root's conduct as an
official and his talk as a political ngiutor
Illustrate the difTeren ce between the con
servatism of responsibility and the anarchy
of speech.
And here Is the proof that Mr. Root
can hlow hot one day and cold the next,
can talk like Thersites today though yes
terdiy he acted like Nestor.
When Senator Stone, the present Demo
cratic chairman of the Foreign Relations
Committee, introduced Into the Senate a
resolution which would have committed
this country to the very Mexican policy
which Mr. Root now urges, he rose In the
Senate and condemned the effort of the
Democrats to do the very thing which he
says should have been done and for want
of which he says the democracy has for
feited the respect of the citizens of this
country. Here are the exact words of
Mr. Root which expose the somersault he
has thrown on tho Mexican situation:
"Mr. President, before the subject Is
passed over and the resolution laid upon
the table, I wish to express my entire dis
sent from the assumption -which seemed to
me to be carried by the expression of
opinion on the part of the Senator from
Missouri. Granting that injuries have been
done to American citizens which ought to
be redressed, that wounds have been in
flicted, that lives have been taken, that
property has been destroyed,, it does not
follow, sir, that we shoujd begin the process
of securing redress for those injuries by
a threat of force on the part of a great
and powerful nation against a smaller and
weaker nation. That, sir, is to reverse the
policy of the United States and to take a
step backward in the pathway of civiliza
tion. "There Is no reason whatever, sir, to as
sume, If Injuries have been dono of the
! kind described, that the Government of
Mexico is unwilling to make due redress
upon having those injuries and claims pre-
scnted to her In the ordinary course of
I peaceful negotiations; and for redress the
(passage of such a resolution as has been
i described, equivalent . to a declaration of
war, would be to preface the ordi
nary demand "the demand which It is
the duty of every civilized power to make
upon a friendly nation with a threat that
if the demand is not complied with force
jwill be used.
"Sympathy with the people of Mexico In
their distress, a just sense of the duties
that we owe to that friendly people, and
the duties that we owe to the peace of
the world must forbid our assenting to or
yielding to any such course. "
Evidently Mr. Root's opinion as to what
should be our Mexican policy shifts from
day to day. He is for any policy that at
the moment promises the most votes for
the Republican party. Anyway it is a
source of consolation to know that as a
United States Senator he approved, though
as a political agitator he condemns, the
policy which President Wilson is following
in Mexico.
POMKSnO POLICIES,
It Is more than coincidence that an ad
ministration which has steadfastly main
tained the peace and the honor. of the na
tion, should have sought with equal energy
and equal success the internal progress and
domestic prosperity which is the natural
I product of tranquility and fair dealing.
It is not surprising that an administra
tion which has Jealously guarded the na
tional rights of the United States should
have cherished with equal zeal the individ
ual rights of its citizens. It is natural that
an administration which has stoutly assert
ed the ancient freedom of our commerce on
the seas, should have labored with equal
sincerity for the new freedom of oppor
tunity on America's soil.
Four years ago the people of this country
entrusted their government to a man and
to n party who promised that they would
liberate the nation from the chains of in
dustrial tyranny, who pledged themselves
to break down the barriers behind which
special privilege sat entrenched; who en
gaged themselves to emancipate business,
to throw wide the gatr- of lawful enterprise,
to restore to the men -and women of Amer
ica the paths of progress which had been
choked and blocked by lone years of in
visible government.
That promise has been kept; that pledge
has been redeemed. Today the prosperity
which the nation enjoys bears witness that
Democracy has kept the faith. Today the
gates of opportunity are open; the hoss of
special privilege stand disarmed. Today
the forces of government are encouraging,
not blocking the full expression of the na
tion's progress. Today the business man,
the artisan and farmer find themselves free
to enjoy the. fruits of their labors, unham
pered by the sinister power of special ptiv
ilege -or the selfish oppression of "invisible
government.
To attempt to describe the myriad ways
in which this new spirit of government has
found expression would necessitate a re
view of every national activity, a compen
dium of every department of the national
government. We must content ourselves
here with a brief consideration of the great
landmarks which chart the change from
government for the fortunate few to an
even-handed government in the Interest
of all.
FEDERAL RESERVE ACT.
The first of these is the Federal Reserve
Act which freed the business man and the
farmer from the financial domination of
the money changers ond lifted the menace
of panic from our industrial life.
Five times during the past thirty years,
at periods when intdustry was flourshing
and crops were abundant, the purse strings
of the country have tightened without ap
parent reason and the nation has been dev
astated by panics.
Business men had seen the patient work
of years swept away In a night. Fanners
had watched their homes sold over their
heads. The "widow and the orphan, the
tire-woman and the mechanic had found
themselves defrnuded of their pittance.-" as
they beat upon the closed doors of insolvent
banks. Paralysis had fallen upon the na
tion's industries. Armies of the unemployed
had marched from factory to factory beg
ging for work. Bread lines and soup kit
chens had sprung up In every city of the
land and within their financial, fortresses
the few who brought about this universal
misery watched their work and counted
their gains.
! Throwing down the gauntlet to those ho
had fattened on the system that made these