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PAGE FOUR
What They Want is a War
Against Mexico.
»
(CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE.)
“Mr. Carranza,” as the Catholic press calls
him.
General Carranza, having pacified four
fifths of Mexico, and having no foe who
would face him and fight, became the acting
head of (he Republic.
As such. President Wilson recognized him,
officially, and so did other governments.
Austria, France, England, and the South
American States recognized General Car
ranza, treating him as the Provisional Chief
of Law and Order in his country.
Consider this point carefully/ for it is a
most important detail:
When the U. S. Government formally rec
ognized the government of General Carranza,
our President, Army, and People were placed
in the position relative to him and to Mexico,
that we occupy with reference to Canada,
Brazil, Chile, Peru and the Republic of
Columbus.
Tn law, the recognition of Carranza carried
with it, by necessary implication, a duty to
treat him with that respect which every inde
pendent government is entitled to, and with
the same consideration we had-always shown
to President Porfirio Diaz.
If our Army is now in Mexico, 400 miles
deep, 10,000 men strong, with 30,000 addi
tional troops demanded; and if this invasion
is being pushed forward despite the most
earnest protests of President Carranza, then
our President has gone back on his own, act
of “recognition''*
Having recognized Carranza as the real
power for Law and Order, President Wilson
owed it to the Law of Nations and to Mexico,
to give Carranza a free hand and a fair
chance to pacify the small portion of his
country that was still 1 in a state of insur
rection.
Senator Fall of New Mexico bitterly re
sented President Wilson’s act in recognizing
Carranza —and he is one of the Senators who
voted against, the President on that matter
of surrendering to Germany the legal right
of Americans to cross the ocean, either way,
on passenger ships.
When President Wilson, in concert with
the South American States, recognized Gen
eral Carranza, the high-priests of Rome broke
out into a frenzied campaign of seditious
calumny, and threats.
Archbishop Blenk of New Orleans was
especially violent. He threatened the Presi
dent with “the vengeance” of Roman Cath
olics. Cardinals Gibbons, O’Connell, and
Farley felt equally outraged.
Bishop Keiley of Savannah rushed into the
papers with his contribution of bigoted re
sentment, and every Romanist paper and
magazine took the cue from the vengeful
high-priests.
Did President Wilson get scared? Did the
prospect of Jesuit machinations against him
-hatter his nerves?
Did Tumulty, the lav Jesuit and Ith degree
Knight of Columbus, receive secret orders
which he dared not disobey ?
Nobody knows; but there is one thing that
everybody can see, and that it, President Wil
son’s change of front.
He is now doing the work most calculated
io ruin Carranza’s government and he was
certainly under moral obligations to refrain.
He is now doing the work which has
hanged Romanist abuse into Romanist into
Romanist praise.
He has gladdened the pope at the Vatican;
be has delighted the American accomplices
< f Archbishop Mora; he has won the eager
approbation of all the Catholic papers; he
has thrown into transports of joy those Amer
ican capitalists who think of Mexico as an
undeveloped El Dorado—boundlessly rich in
THE: JEFFERSONIAN
minerals, oil fields, find slave-haciendas.
Think of how this sudden change was
brought about.
Villa was fleeing before the Carranza
troops, and was butchering Americans wher
ever he could find them.
Fie was nearing th§ border with 400 men,
loudly threatening to kill all Americans.
The U. S. Consul at El Paso notified Gen
eral Pershing that Villa was only 15 miles
away.
This warning was given three days before
Villa raided the Catholic town, of the Cath
olic State, .of that rampantly Catholic Sen
ator, Fall.
Two days before the raid, Col. Slocum,
commanding 300 U. S. soldiers at Columbus,
was warned of the intended raid.
He was again wuirned, the day before the
raid; and, incredible as it may seem, he was
again warned on (he very night of the raid.
General Pershing took no precautions, and
Col. Slocum took none.
On the contrary, Col. Slocum caused the
rifles of his men to be locked inside a house,
with orders that the guns should not be taken
out, unless he himself commanded it.
Then he went to bed; and apparently his
sentries did the same thing.
His officers had gone off to attend a wed
ding in El Paso, and the unarmed soldiers
were presumably asleep in their quarters.
Villa came dashing in, and there wasn’t a
particle of real resistance that could be made.
It is said that a few citizens of the town
were slain, not as many as a score—fewer
than the Yaqni Indians of Mexico had
butchered in some of their raids during the
reign of Dictator Diaz.
The Villa episode at Columbus presents
many evidences of pre-arrangement, and
powerful American backing.
There was no loot to be had at this little
New Mexico town, and Villa could not have
counted on any benefit to himself.
He acted as though he were a dummy, play
ing a part which immensely pleased Senator
Fall, Archbishop Mora, Cardinal Gibbons,
and the Americans who have seized upon
announced that Villa must be captured—and
the righest resources of old Mexico.
President Wilson yielded to the clamor, and
then General Funston waited two weeks, to
give the fugitive a good start.
After the American army, 8,000 strong, had
marched into Mexico, General Funston re
quested that our Government demand the use
of the Mexican railways.
Because General Carranza demurred at
this unexpected and unprecedented demand,
those of our newspapers that want a war,
began to rail at Carranza as unreasonable.
If England should demand the use of
our Panama Railroad and Canal, we would
probably think that it was the demand which
had no basis in fairness and reason.
Pushing forward into Mexico, our officers
wished to throw garrisons into the Mexican
towns. This was refused, and again our jingo
editors snarled at Carranza.
Yet if Canada, in pursuit, say of Fenians,
or Apaches, should ask leave to take military
possession of Detroit and Chicago, we would
not feel flattered at the compliment paid to
our pride and common sense.
It was inevitable that the people of the
invaded country would resent the presence of
foreign troops— troops composed partly of
negroes and Indians.
Mexico has not forgotten Vera Cruz, where
scores of non-combatants were shot down by
our men, because of that jackass, Admiral
Mayo.
Nor has Mexico forgotten how the Amer
ican Ambassador plotted against the Consti
tutional President Madero, and helped to
plunge the country into revolution.
Therefore, our officers should have exercised
the utmost caution to avoid a conflict with
any Mexicans, except Villa and his band.
Now, what really happened at Parral!
What started that fight and caused so many
Mexicans to be slain in their own town?
Was it a case where “Carranza troops shot
Americans who sought food?”
Not at all. The Americans were not seek
ing food, nor did Carranza troops fire upon
them.
Here are the facts as published in the Wash
ington Post, and New York Tribune:
A body of American soldiers numbering
150, entered the town of Parral, fully armed,
and in violation of the agreement which had
been made by General Carranza and our
Government.
The sudden arrival of these foreign troops
into their town, without the asking of per
mission from the authorities, threw’ the Mexi
cans into a fury, and (hey rashly undertook
to drive the sodiers out.
The soldiers stood their ground, fired volley
after volley into the Mexican rabble, and
killed 105 of those people before their own
doors.
The Americans had a machine gun and this
was turned upon the Mexicans, mowing them
down in dozens.
It is not certain that a single American w T as
slain, although it is “reported and believed”
that one fell.
The town was considered friendly to Villa,
and it is claimed that the Americans were
searching the place for the bandit, when the
resentment of the Mexicans flamed out.
The Carranza troops not only did not fire
upon the Americans, but took sides with
them, and drove the mob away.
The headline of the Washington Post reads :
AMERICANS TROOPS KILL 105
MEXICANS AND WOUND SCORES
IN 3 HOUR FIGHT AT PARRAL
At Least One United States Soldier Is Dead and
Several Are Hurt.
Cavalrymen Battle With Backs to Plaza Wall
Against Overwhelming Numbers and Escape
After Carranza Garrison Whips Back Assail
ants—Meager Report Indicates That Men Be
longed to Thirteenth Cavalry, Commanded by
Major Tompkins—Carranza Orders Defied by
Soldiers, Mexicans Officials Say.
This massacre of Mexican civilians took
place in the Public Square of their town : to
call such a shooting down of practically un
armed citizens, “a battle,” is a painful* mis
nomer.
It is not claimed (hat Major Tompkins
asked the consent of (he town authorities to
bring his troops in. nor was any notice given,
either to the Carranza garrison or the munic
ipal officers.
In fact, the action and preparedness of these
soldiers almost lead one to believe that they
meant to excite a collision which would
strengthen the pleas of such agitators as Sen
ator Fall, the Hearst papers, the Militarists,
and the Roman high-priests.
The New York Tribune relates the tragedy
at Parral under the following headlines:
CITIZENS FIRE ON UNITED STATES TROOPS
SEEKING VILLA.
150 Men of 13th Cavalry Mow Down Attackers.
CARRANZA FORCE DISPERSES MO!?.
Major Tompkins Withdraws Men at Request of
Town Officials.
Instead of searching for food, the Amer
icans were occupied as follows: %
(From a Staff Correspondent of the Tribune.)
El Paso, Tex., April 13.—American cavalry, led.
by. Major Frank Tompkins, and consisting of 150
men of the 13th Cavalry, believing Villa was
being harbored in Parral, entered that mining
town to search for him. In a clash with citizens
of the town, all Villa sympathizers, more than
fifty Mexicans, were killed. The Americans lost
one man killed and one wounded.
