Senate Talks Of Coercing Mexico.

New York Times 100 years ago today, July 23, 1913:
Armed Intervention Is Bluntly S. Urged to Protect American Rights.
INACTION POLICY DENOUNCED
Lodge Blames Taft and Joins Fall in Telling of Unavenged Outrages on Americans.
BACON'S VOICE FOR CAUTION
And Fall's Resolution Goes Over After Lively Two-Hour Debate — President Studies Situation.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, July 22.— The acuteness of the Mexican crisis and the danger in which American lives and property are involved thereby were strongly reflected in debate in the Senate this afternoon, when talk of armed intervention was more general and more pointed than has been heard in the Capitol at any time since the first revolution began nearly three years ago.
    Senator Fall of New Mexico, a Republican, and Senator Stone of Missouri, a Democrat, both asserted that they thought the time had come for the American army to cross the Rio Grande, while other Senators of more conservative temper on both sides of the aisle openly favored an unequivocal declaration that if protection was longer withheld from Americans by Federals or revolutionists, protection should be instantly supplied by the United States, regardless of the cost in men or money.
    The general discussion of the situation in Mexico was sharpened by criticism of the policy pursued by the State Department toward Americans, protesting against maltreatment and asking protection. This criticism was aimed at the department as conducted under both Taft and Wilson. These criticisms came from Republican Senators, but with the exception of Chairman Bacon of the Committee on Foreign Relations the Democrats did not speak in defense of the department's course.
    Mr. Bacon stated generally that he rested confidently on the assurances he had received in both Administrations, that every effort had been put forth in behalf of American citizens. Then Mr. Bacon challenged the Republicans to give specific instances of neglect by diplomatic and consular officers. The answers he received from Senator Fall and Senator Dodge made a deep impression on the Senate.
    "Does the Senator mean," asked Mr. Bacon of Mr. Fall, "that diplomatic efforts have so far failed that we should now send in the army to protect Americans?"
    "I don't admit that diplomatic efforts have failed," retorted Mr. Fall dryly. "They have never been attempted."
    "That is a broad statement," said Mr. Bacon. "If there is any truth in men, not only under this Administration but under the last, consular and diplomatic officers did everything they could. They presented claims and failed to collect damages only because the Mexican Government for the time had no money to pay. It is not true that our officials were indifferent. Their efforts were unceasing."

Instances of Americans Maltreated.
    "We don't agree as to what constitutes diplomatic effort," answered Mr. Fall. "When an American was threatened with death in the town of Madero, 1,200 miles from the City of Mexico, without any communications between the capital and Madero, the efforts of the American Department of State consisted in telegraphing the City of Mexico, suggesting the enforcement of order. The opinion seems to prevail that the City of Mexico is Mexico; and the official conscience is set at rest by protesting to the authorities in that city, no matter how little able they are to enforce order at any point."
    "And I know," said Mr. Lodge, "that our Consuls were so badly treated last Winter that they were afraid to exert themselves. They had no reason to think their efforts would be rewarded here. I don't want war. I want a recognition of treaty rights. While Americans could get no redress, didn't the German Minister demand and promptly obtain 100,000 marks for the death of a German subject? And wasn't there another case where an attaché of the German Legation went down to a court-martial and rescued an American, held for unjust trial?"
    "Yes," assented Mr. Fall. "and that was in the City of Mexico."
    "I was in hopes," went on Mr. Lodge, earnestly, "that a new President and a new Secretary of State would pursue a different course, and I am much disappointed that they have not."
    "The Senator is belligerent," said Mr. Bacon, with a little laugh.
    Mr. Lodge was in dead earnest when he replied:
    "If it is belligerent to ask for the safety of all American citizens and all American Consuls, then I am belligerent."
    The rescue of the American by the German official, said Senator Fall, occurred four months ago and was communicated to the Department of State by a Secret Service agent, but no action was taken.
    Mr. Lodge said that it was an unpleasant thought that under the American policy innocent Americans, shot on the American side of the frontier, were forced to seek redress in the Mexican courts.

Not a Party Matter, Says Lodge.
    Senator Lewis of Illinois, the Democratic Whip, hinted that Mr. Lodge might have made his protest to the Republican Administration.
    "This is no party matter," retorted Mr. Lodge. "I did not know of this incident until six weeks ago. These things are not made public. But I insist it is no party question. I blame my own Administration more than I blame the present Democratic rule."
    The discussion began when Mr. Fall's resolution of Saturday urging the enunciation of a strong policy in regard to Mexico came up automatically. The resolution read:
    Resolved, That the constitutional rights of American citizens should protect them on our borders and go with them throughout the world, and every American citizen residing or having property in any foreign country is entitled to and should be given full protection of the American Government, both for himself and for his property.
    When the resolution was taken up Mr. Bacon at once moved that it be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. It was not a question, he said, whether or not the resolution enunciated a truth, but a question of expediency.
    "Words are serious things at times," he said, "and this is one of the times."
    Senator Bacon insisted that the people of the United States were in a grave position of responsibility "at this time, and any enunciation of principle such as this should be thoroughly considered."
    Senator Fall asked that it be passed at once, asserting that it was thoroughly understood by every Senator.
    Senator Bacon asked if the resolution did not mean that the United States should send an armed force into Mexico to protect American citizens.

Stone for Sending Armed Force.
    Senator Stone, reviewing certain conditions in Mexico, said he would favor sending an armed force.
    Senator Williams of Mississippi thought the Foreign Relations Committee should revise the language of the resolution, as constitutional rights, in his opinion, gave way to treaty rights once a citizen crossed a foreign frontier. Properly phrased, he said, such a resolution would strengthen the hands of the Department of State and serve notice on American officials everywhere that they must put forth every effort in behalf of American citizens.
    Senator O'Gorman likewise supported the resolution.
    "As I understand this resolution," said Senator Jones of Washington, after vainly objecting to present consideration, "it means that if some American citizens are dissatisfied with conditions here they can go to a foreign country, and if they become dissatisfied there they can embroil all the people of the United States in an effort to get them out of trouble. I am opposed to such a resolution without mature consideration."
    "There are diplomatic methods of enforcing our rights," said Mr. Lodge. "All these must be exhausted before other steps are taken. The point can no doubt be reached where a nation whose nationals have been maltreated or possibly killed in another country can only resort to arms when diplomacy fails. It is a serious thing for the Senate to say to Mexico that this country will protect its citizens by force, if necessary.
    "But in this case a negative course is more serious than an affirmative. The resolution is here and we must act upon it. To lay it on the table would be equivalent to saying that we are not prepared to protect our citizens in Mexico. It cannot be brushed aside as unimportant. It would be a serious thing for the Senate to refuse to take proper action on the resolution."
    "If this resolution is directed against Mexico," objected Mr. Bacon, "we should be honest about it and let the resolution say so in terms."
    "The country will so accept it," said Mr. Works of California, "and foreign countries will so look upon it. This resolution is of great concern to me. Many Californians in Mexico have lost their property. Some have lost their lives and some are now imprisoned without warrant of law. But what does this resolution mean? It means that, if necessary for the protection of our citizens, we are ready to go to war. It may be that intervention will come, but we should consider the subject carefully.

Fall Denies He Wants War.
    Suggestions that Senator Fall was trying to precipitate a war to bring on American occupation of Mexico aroused the Senator from New Mexico to indignant denials, but his speech contained the most pointed intimation of the day that intervention might be inevitable. "The sole purpose of the Senator from New Mexico," he said, "throughout this and the former Administration, has been to prevent war with Mexico. I urged the last Administration to realize the situation in Mexico and act so as to prevent war. But matters have dragged on so that now the situation is so delicate that we are told we should not make a declaration of this broad principle.
    "The Senator from New Mexico is not responsible for conditions in Mexico. It is the delay of the Administration, the failure of the Administration to act, the failure of the Government to carry out its warnings to the people of Mexico that they would be held responsible for conditions there.
    "As a republic, we hesitate more than any nation on earth, to protect our citizens and enforce our treaty rights, for fear of bringing on a war. What arouses us? Some great disaster like the blowing up of the Maine? Then we pursue our enemy to the uttermost corner of the earth.
    "It is in your power at the present time to prevent war. If strong action had been taken by this Government two years ago it would have prevented war. A strong demand upon Madero or de la Barra would have prevented war. Protection of American citizens held for ransom and killed at that time, extended through arms, if necessary, would have prevented instead of precipitated war.
    "This policy of the United States of delay in the hope that something might happen is responsible for the present situation. Prompt and strong action would have avoided the necessity for such a declaration as is proposed here.
    "We only ask now for a reannouncement that American citizens abroad are entitled to American protection. When a State becomes so commercialized that it will not extend this protection to its citizens in foreign countries, what will be the attitude of that country in case of war? When a country is so weak that it will not protect its citizens the days of that republic are numbered."
    "Does the Senator mean," asked Mr. Bacon, "that if an American citizen is outraged and imprisoned 500 miles in the interior of Mexico we should send in an army for his release?"
    "If no other measures are effective," replied Mr. Fall, "it would be our duty to send our last man to his defense."
    To the statement of Senator Pall that nothing had been done to protect American citizens in Mexico, Senator Bacon replied that the facts did not warrant such a statement, but that under the Taft and Wilson Administrations the State Department had told him repeatedly of constant diplomatic effort to secure protection for Americans and their property.
    "The efforts have been continuous and unceasing," said Senator Bacon. "They may not have availed, but it is not true that this Administration or the previous one has not made efforts to protect Americans."

A Warning Not Made Good.
    Mr. Fall here told of the efforts of Marion Letcher, Consul at Chihuahua, whom he described as one of the few American officials in Mexico who had done their duty, to prevent the shooting of Thomas A. J. Fountain, an American in the Federal Army, who was taken prisoner by the rebel leader Salazar. The State Department sustained Mr. Letcher's protest to the extent of warning Salazar that he would be held responsible. Fountain was shot, and later, when Salazar visited El Paso, he was held by the United States Commissioner in $1,000 bonds for violating the neutrality laws. Salazar jumped his bond and returned to his depredations.
    "Why was the department's threat not made good?" demanded Mr. Fall. "At Fort Bliss this very day, within two miles of where Salazar escaped, are 274 Mexicans held under military law as prisoners of war. Why wasn't Salazar put with them and held? I regret that the present occupant of the White House knows little of these things. When he learns of them he may follow a different course."
    Mr. Fall told how Charles L. Montague, an American banker at Cananea, acting as local American Consular Agent, was threatened with deportation.
    "The reason why Montague was not deported," said Mr. Fall, "was because there were in Cananea 240 good Americans with weapons in their hands. They said to the Mexicans: 'Don't touch Montague.' And there were 3,000 loyal Americans just over the American frontier, forty miles away, who promised to cross the border and pull Montague out of any trouble the Mexicans might make for him."
    Just before the two-hour debate was stopped by the expiration of the "morning hour," the resolution going on the calendar, Mr. Fall said that he had not intended to call forth any such strong statements. He had not imagined, he said, that the resolution would be opposed and had expected it to be passed without debate.

"Alfalfa Bill" Calls for Action.
    In the House also to-day Mexican affairs had a brief inning when Representative William H. Murray of Oklahoma, who puts "Alfalfa Bill" in parentheses after his name where it appears in the Congressional Directory, introduced a resolution directing the President to subdue Mexico by force of arms.
    The resolution proper is preceded by a string of "Whereases" that paint a picture of deplorable conditions in Mexican territory. He says that "there exists neither law nor government, neither the inalienable right of man nor peace nor order within the boundaries formerly embracing and known as the Republic of Mexico."
    It is stated also by Mr. Murray that "through duplicity, treachery, and murder, Huerta, the usurping marauder, now proclaiming himself the rightful ruler of Mexico, has nullified its Constitution, destroyed all lawful authority and government, and has committed upon the person of the President and his family a black-handed murder, paralleled in all history only by the pusillanimous cruelty of the dark ages, with all its superstitious fanaticism and dastardly deeds of rapine and murder."
    The assertion is made by Mr. Murray that many American citizens in Mexico "have been subjected to imprisonment, blackmail, and murder; their homes burned, their property destroyed, the virtue of womanhood and the sacred rights of family violated by first one or another of roving military bands, who might gain ascendancy within a given community."

Administration Keeps Silent.
    While the legislators were thus showing increased activity in regard to Mexico, the Administration was waiting, intending to take no action until after President Wilson and Secretary Bryan have had a conference with Henry Lane Wilson. Ambassador at the Mexican capital.
    Reports were current to-day that the diplomat was going to take a steamship from Havana to New York, which would postpone his arrival here, but a telegram late this afternoon from Mr. Gibson, Chargé at Havana, said that Mr. Wilson had decided on the Key West route and would leave there to-night by rail for this city. This should enable him to reach here Thursday night, and it now seems certain that the Ambassador's first conference with President Wilson and Secretary Bryan will take place on Friday.
    It is understood that there has been briefed for the President by the Latin-American Division of the State Department a great mass of information from the files of the department bearing on questions likely to be taken up in Friday's conference. These data concern the extensive interests of citizens of the United States in Mexico, their amount, location, the depredations that have befallen such properties, the injuries sustained in property or by citizens of this country, and the extent to which the Mexican Government has been willing or able to afford protection in such cases. The conduct of the revolutionary commanders under like circumstances will be covered.
    The Administration intends to adopt a cautious diplomatic attitude in regard to Mexico until it is ready to declare a change in its present policy. Statements that President Wilson had commented on the condition of the Huerta government are stated by officials to be without authority. What-
    ever President Wilson's personal opinion may be as to the prospect of Huerta's fail, he has been careful to make no public statements along that line. The attitude he has pursued is entirely satisfactory to the Mexican Embassy in Washington, which gave out this statement to-day by authority of the Chargé, A. Algara ele Terreros:
    This embassy has viewed with grave concern the statements purporting to have been made in official circles of the impending overthrow of the Huerta Administration in Mexico. While these stories proceeded from revolutionary or other interested sources, it was not deemed necessary to make a denial, since subsequent information constantly proved their untrustworthiness and stamped the channel whence they were derived. When, however, they are given such publicity and apparent credence as to call forth the strong denial from the White House, published in this morning's papers, it seems fitting for this embassy to state unequivocally that it cannot believe that either President Wilson, whose caution in coming to any hasty conclusion has been clearly shown, or State Department officials, who, be it noted, are nameless in the reports, ever expressed such opinion.
    This embassy is all the more convinced of the lack of authenticity of these stories, in view of the fact that they would cause unnecessary alarm and certainly contribute to a continuance of the unsettled conditions in Mexico, which it is in the interest of all right-thinking persons to avoid.

Rebels Expect Momentous Event.
    Meanwhile H. Perez Romero, agent in Washington of the Revolutionary Party, is standing ready to furnish the State Department with information as to the location of the contending forces in his country and proof of the ability of the Constitutionalists to establish law and order, should they succeed in overturning the Huerta regime. No hint has been given to Mr. Romero that this information may be required by the American Government, but there is a confident feeling in Constitutionalist circles that Huerta's fall is near and that the United States will be obliged to enter into exchange with the Constitutionalists at an early date.
    Mr. Romero said to-day that he had received from Gov. Carranza a statement of the position of the Constitutionalists for presentation to the United States Government if it was desired.
    The Constitutionalists here are expecting something to happen within 24 hours that will have a marked effect on the Mexican situation. Just what form this event will take is not disclosed. In fact it is intimated that the rebels do not know themselves, but have been told that the event would be of huge import to the revolutionary cause.
    A communication received to-day by the Constitutionalist agent here from Gen. Carranza said that he had left his headquarters at Piedras Negras and gone to Torreon, the capital of Coahuila, which he was besieging to-day with 6,000 troops. Torreon, which is on the Southern Mexico Railroad, is the key to communication between Mexico City and the northwestern States. According to Carranza's statements he has gained control of the railroad lines running out of Torreon.

Gunboat Sent to Frontera.
    John Bassett Moore, counselor of the State Department and Acting Secretary in the absence of Mr. Bryan, had a long conference with President Wilson today about developments in the Mexican revolution. Mr. Moore brought the consular reports and acquainted the President with the progress of events in the southern republic as shown by advices to the department.
    The gunboat Wheeling was ordered today to Frontera, Tabasco State, Mexico, where revolutionary activity has endangered the lives and property of Americans. She will sail from Key West tomorrow, and probably reach Frontera by nightfall. The gunboat has 150 bluejackets, but no marines.
    The battleship Louisiana, which sailed from Vera Cruz under rush orders, has arrived at Tuxpam to protect Americans whose lives and property are endangered by fighting between the Federals and the revolutionists in the vicinity.
    Refugees continue to flee from Mexico. The State Department was informed that arrangements were complete for the embarkation of 100 indigent Americans from Tampico to-day. They will be taken to Galveston.