February 12, 1918, "the number of victims thus sacrificed in south-west Texas by such peace officers assuming the powers of a court of justice will probably never be known, though I understand that Attorney F. C. Pierce holds a list with names of nearly three hundred." This report was printed in full in the April, 1918, Mexican Review, published at Washington, D. C.
So long as we do not fully protect Mexican lives in American territory, how can we insist that Mexico fully protect American lives in Mexican territory?
So long as we are incapable of fully protecting American lives in American territory, how can we expect to be able to protect American lives in Mexican territory?
The way to protect American lives is to protect them, and not to sacrifice them. What the interventionists are asking us to do is to sacrifice American lives, under the pretext of protecting them. It is obvious that the interventionists cannot be concerned for American lives as such, that the protection of American lives is not the real issue.
What, then, is the real issue? Is it PRINCIPLE? Is it the principle that America is bound to use its armed forces to protect the lives of American citizens IN OTHER COUNTRIES, regardless of the measure of our ability to protect them at home under all conditions?
Every effort is being made to impress the public with this view. Like every other pro-intervention argument, it will not bear examination. If we assume this obligation for ourselves we would have to concede the right of our neighbors to assume it on behalf of their citizens. Would we concede the right of Italy to send an army into Pennsylvania to protect striking Italians from being murdered by Steel Trust guards and gunmen?
To do so would be to abandon American sovereignty. It is a function of government in the United States to protect the lives of foreigners as well as citizens here to the best of its ability. It is a function of government in Mexico to protect the lives of foreigners as well as citizens there to the best of its ability. No government on earth perfectly discharges this function. If one government happens, for a period, to discharge it a little better than a neighbor, that does not give it a right to extend its authority to the territory of the neighbor.
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