The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1916.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XXXVI, Issue 3575, 9 October 1916, Page 4

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. MONDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1916.

the president's new : ■<■;■■-■■■":■■■ role. :■•• :•' •' •.

, When President-.■Wilson- uttered his famous declaration that America was " too proud to fight," 'he lacked the placeseeker's usual caution -in the use of phrases that might in the future be used: against him. It has proved a double-edged sword in the hands of his political opponents, and at every meeting in connection with his presidential campaign he has had to try and explain what he meant by the phrase. He has found this to be a most difficult task* for the people of Texas, especially, unkindly insist that what he meant was that America was "afraid" to fight. They point; to the 28 American soldiers who were murdered by the Mexicans, at; Carrizal, and to the sending of American troops to Vera Cruz to obtain redress'for the arrest of an American official. In the former instance, there was no attempt to punish the.,murderers, the American soldiers being withdrawn when Carranza threatened to drive them out of Mexican, territory; and tlie Vera Cr^iz incident was as farcical an expedition as could well be conceived. The President's latest public statement is a complete volte face. He declares, now, that.( ' there's as much .fight in. America as in any nation in the world," but he qualifies this by the assertion that "the United States will not fight for; trifles." ; His critics in America pertinently" ask 'whether the continual' murder of American subjects by the Germans, in spite of frequent warnings from the President, is a trifling matter, but the President declines to argue. It seems apparent that he is trimming his sails in order to catch the favourable winds of public opinion, for there is much evidence that : the people of America are becoming impatient of the Government's policy of turning the other cheek to every smiter who feels disposed to strike a blow. This feeling of impatience is being transformed into an actual desire to •" get into the war." The two dominantj factors behind 'this, desire are strangely, at variance. Oue prominent statesman has declared: '■' Day by day our ability to lnain"tain peace with/honour is diminishing"; whilst a welf-known financier states! "For those who believe that spiritual .vigour is more important than material success to the real -welfare of a nation, the prospect of war can have no terror." On the other hand, the "New Republic" asserts that neither honour nor national regeneration ha,s .any part in the movement for intervention. "There jls in America to-day," it declares, " tlie beginning of that very '-military arrogance which we are told this war is being fought' to abolish. It •shows itself in contempt for all efforts toward peace, in programmes of armament that are tlie vista of a nightmare, in denunciation of the virtues that, make a free and .tolerant people,

in. a hatred o$ oilier points of view, in the attempt to haze and ostracise .those who have different opinions; and in the assertion of iv brittle, touchy impatience at the thought that anything- human can be. adjusted without slamming the table and rattling' the windows. The militarists"' are forcing the issue in such a way as to consolidate the opposition. If the American people have to choose between their virulence and the amiable intentions of the official pacifists they will follow the pacifists." The pacifists would be justified, too, for the American Press is unanimous in declaring' that the navy and army are totally unprepared for wareither offensive or defensive. The mobilisation of the. National Guard at the time of the Mexican trouble was a farce. "Mobilisation, 1" we are told, "'proceeded at a tortoise pace. It was'not.satis-: factory. Equipment was lacking, * © • ' ' • . '". »

and training 1 was sadly deficient. The transportation system "wholly broke down, and while the troops at the front were on half-rations, trainloads of foodstuffs were piled up in the open air at the village of Casas Grandes because the use of the railroads was denied the punitive expedition." For sev-~ eral years the largest'part of the available American field forces has been encamped along the Mexican border in anticipation of a raid, but; when the expected event occurred, it took six days to assemble, equip, and start an expeditionary force of barely 6000 men. Compare ihis with unprepared Britain's achievement: 14 days after the first shot- was fired in Belgium, 120,000 British soldiers were marching through France. Judging from these facts, the President's sonorous warning may be regarded as merely empty, talk. ,