Wants Troops In Mexico.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 22, 1913:
Penrose Asks for $25,000,000 to Protect Americans.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, Aug. 21.— As soon as the Senate convened Senator Boies Penrose of Pennsylvania brought up the Mexican question by introducing his resolution requesting the President to place American troops in Mexico for the protection of American lives and property. He accompanied the resolution with an amendment to be offered later to the Urgent Deficiency bill placing at the President's disposal $25,000,000 for use at his discretion in protecting American lives and property in Mexico. Mr. Penrose's resolution follows:
    Resolved, That the Senate recognizes that it has been the policy of the United States to maintain the Monroe Doctrine throughout the western hemisphere, and that the United States acknowledges its responsibility under the Monroe Doctrine; that there exists in the Republic of Mexico a condition of internal warfare and lawlessness, and that a continuation of these present conditions, accompanied by the destruction of property, may involve international complications and intervention by European nations.
    Resolved, That it is believed by the Senate that it is the first duty of the Government of the United States to protect the lives and property of its citizens at home and abroad, and that such protection in the Republic of Mexico will lessen the prevailing lawlessness and destruction of lives and property, and the danger and complications that might arise from European intervention in the Republic of Mexico.
    Resolved, That in the opinion of the Senate it is not the policy of the Government of the United States to recognize, aid, or assist any faction or factions in the Republic of Mexico.
    Resolved, That the President of the United States be requested to take such steps as are necessary to place a sufficient number of troops, as a constabulary, in the Republic of Mexico, wherever and at such points as in his opinion they may be needed properly to police and to protect American citizens and their property; and it is hereby declared that such employment of troops for the protection of the lives and property of American citizens is not made with any intent that such policing and protection shall be construed as an act of hostility or unfriendliness toward the Mexican nation.
    Mr. Penrose's proposed amendment to the Deficiency bill provides:
    For the protection or the lives and property of American citizens in the Republic of Mexico and for each and every purpose connected therewith, to be expended at the discretion of the President and to remain available until July 1, 1914, $25,000,000.
    The presentation of these measures was the signal for an unexpected rally of Republican Senators to the support of President Wilson. With a unanimity that heretofore has characterized only their criticisms of the Administration's foreign policy, such Republican leaders as Mr. Lodge, Mr. Sutherland. Mr. Nelson, Mr. Smoot and Mr. Gallinger indorsed the plea of Chairman Bacon of the Committee on Foreign Relations that the delicate situation should not be aggravated by impetuous talk at this time.
    Mr. Penrose took those indirect rebukes in good part. He insisted that his measures merely were permissive and that the President could not be embarrassed simply by authority to take strong measures should his judgment find them necessary. Mr. Penrose asserted that this proposal to use American troops for policing the troubled zones of Mexico where Americans were in peril would involve no interference with either faction.
    It was thought afterward that Senator Penrose would have taken a sharper tone if a telegram which he received from State Secretary Bryan when the discussion was over had been delivered a little earlier. That dispatch set forth that recent advices from American Consul Letcher in Chihuahua reported that the insurgents had threatened immediate death without trial to W.P. Fuller in La Boquilla if he again should impound water in the reservoir supplying the works at that point, and that it was feared this threat applied also to Shirley C. Hulse, son-in-law of Lieut. Gov. Reynolds of Pennsylvania.
    This is the telegram which Mr. Bryan sent over the Government wire between the State Department and the Capitol:
    Department of State, Washington, D. C.,
    Aug. 21, 1913. The Hon. Boies Penrose, United States Senate:
    Referring to your interest in Shirley C. Hulse and family, I have the honor to inform you that in a telegram dated Aug. 18, 12 noon, the American Consul at Chihuahua states that on Aug. 4 a verbal message was sent by the Mexican insurrectionary leaders to Mr. Fuller, who telegraphed in the first instance regarding this matter to the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, that Fuller's execution without trial would be ordered if he again impounded water in the dam under his charge. The Consul states that he has a written statement covering the matter, which presumably will be forwarded to the department.
    Although no specific threats were made against Hulse, the Consul states it may be supposed that such threat applies equally to any employes of the same company who might attempt the act prohibited by the insurrectionaries, and that as the dam referred to was built under a lawful concession for impounding water for power purposes. It is of vital importance that such impounding be done at once during the rainy season.
    The Consul further states that recent information indicates that there are forty-two American men and six women at La Boquilla, that all are well, and that, although it is not known when Federal forces will arrive there, they are at present operating southward in that direction from Chihuahua, and doubtless will relieve the situation upon their arrival.
    W. J. BRYAN. Secretary of State.

Hulse News Angers Penrose.
    Mr. Penrose was very angry when he read the telegram, partly because the information had not been at his disposal earlier in the day, but chiefly because Mr. Bryan made no reference to any measure on the part of the State Department to protect Mr. Fuller and Mr. Hulse.
    The Pennsylvania Senator showed the dispatch to some of his Republican associates and then handed it to Mr. Bacon, uging him as the Democratic Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations to send a telegram at once to the Secretary of State insisting that demands for protection be made immediately to President Huerta, Acting Gov. Carranza of Coahuila, and the insurrecto chief immediately in charge at La Boquilla, and that the demands be accompanied by a solemn warning that the officials named would be held responsible for the lives of the Americans.
    This Mr. Bacon declined to do, but at Mr. Penrose's insistence he did have a long telephone talk with Mr. Bryan. When that conversation ended Mr. Penrose sent to Mr. Bryan a message conveying his wishes in positive language.
    "The Americans in Mexico," said Mr. Penrose, when he presented his resolution, "have a right to stay in Mexico. Their business and their interests are there. The Government has requested an appropriation of $100,000 to bring these Americans out of Mexico. Their protection in Mexico is more essential. Instead of providing this pittance for their escape, it would be better to appropriate $25,000,000 to protect them there in the lawful pursuit of their callings."
    Mr. Bacon replied that the question was very delicate, that the Committee on Foreign Relations had decided unanimously to consider all proposals relative to Mexico before their discussion in the Senate and that he hoped Mr. Penrose would let his measures be referred.

Lodge Wants Silence, Too.
    Senator Lodge of Massachusetts supported Mr. Bacon's suggestion. He said he was impressed by the seriousness and delicacy of the task confronting the Administration, and assured Mr. Penrose that the committee would consider his propositions carefully.
    Mr. Penrose said he was willing that his two resolutions introduced last week  should go to the committee, but he insisted that his measures presented to-day remain before the Senate for automatic consideration to-morrow.
    "It is unwise at this time to agitate this question," said Mr. Nelson of Minnesota, a Republican member of the Foreign Relations Committee. "The Administration is doing all that is possible to solve the problem. The introduction of such resolutions serves only to keep the trouble open and to embarrass the Administration. There should be no exploitation in the Senate, and I protest against speeches on Mexico just now."

Mormons for Peace.
    "The citizens of Utah," said Mr. Smoot, a Republican leader from that State, "have suffered more than any other body of American citizens. Five or six thousand of them have been driven from Mexico at a moment's notice and their property has been destroyed. But none of them wants war. They say, let the Mexicans fight it out among themselves. Everything is being done that can be done, and we should stand squarely behind the President in his efforts to restore peace."
    The one dissenting note was sounded by Mr. Fall of New Mexico. He said he never had questioned the President's patriotism, but that he saw no reason why discussion should be suppressed. Public opinion, if well-informed, he said, would act conservatively, but as things now stood, there was a feeling of resentment in every State.
    "The people," concluded Mr. Fall, "had better be informed rather than inflamed."