The new era., August 29, 1907, Image 6

About The new era. (Walden, Colo.) 1906-19??

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WAR TO DEATH ON
CRIMINAL WEALTH
President Roosevelt Delivers An Address That
Is Expected to Stir the Nation to
Its Very Center
Pro vinculo wn, Maas. — President]
ftooaovelt’s speech la part was as fol
lows:
It is not too much to say that the
event commemorated by the monument
which we have come here to dedicate
was one of those rare events which can
in good faith be called of world im
portance. The coming hither of the
Puritans three centuries ago shaped
the destinies of this continent, and
therefore profoundly affected the des
tiny of the whole world. Men of other
races, the Frenchman and the Span
iard. the Dutchman, the German, the
Scotchman and the Swede made set
tlements within what is now the
United States, during the colonial pe
riod of our history and before the dec
laration of Independence; and since
,,then there has been an ever-swelling
" immigration from Ireland and from the
mainland of Europe, but it was the En
glishman who first settled in Virginia
and the Englishman who settled in
Massachusetts who did most In shaping
the lines of our national development.
Changes in Laws Necessary.
The utterly changed conditions of
our national life necessitates changes
In certain of our laws, of our govern
mental methods. Our federal system of
government is based upon the theory
of leaving to each community, to each
state the control over those things
which affect only its own members, and
which the people of the locality them
selves can best grapple with, while
providing for national regulation in
those matters which necessarily affect
the nation as a whole. It seems to me
that such questions as national sover
eignty and states’ rights need to be
treated not empirically or academic
ally, but from the standpoint of the
Interests of the people as a whole. Na
tional sovereignty is to be upheld in so
far as it means the sovereignty of the
people used for the real and ultimate
good of the people as a whole to the
great corporations which are the dis
tinguishing feature of modern business
conditions.
Experience has shown that it is nec- #
essary to exercise a far more efficient
control than at present over the busi
ness use of those vast fortunes, chief
ly corporate, which arc used, (as under
modern conditions they almost invari
ably are), in interstate business. When
the constitution was created none of
the conditions of modern business ex
isted. They are wholly new and we
must create new agencies to deal ef
fectively with them. There is no ob
jection in the minds of the people to
any man’s earning any amount of
money, if he does it honestly and
fairly, if he gets it as the result of spe
cial skill and enterprise, as a reward
of ample service actually rendered.
But there is a growing determination
that no man shall amass a great for
tune by special privilege, by chicanery
aad wrongdoing, so far as it is in his
power of legislation to prevent; and
the fortune when amassed shall not
have a business use that is antisocial.
Moat large corporations do a business
that is not confined to any one state.
Experience has shown that the effort
to control these corporations by mere
state action cannot produce wholesome
results. In most cases such effort fails
to correct the real abuses of which
the corporation is or may be guilty;
while in other cases the effort is apt
to cause either hardship to the cor
poration itself or else hardship to
neighboring states which have not
tried to grapple with the problem In
the same manner; and. of course, we
must be as scrupulous to safeguard the
rights of the corporations as to exact
from them in return a full measure of
justice to the public. I believe in a na
tional incorporation law* for corpora
tions engaged in interstate business. I
believe furthermore that the need for
action Is most pressing as regards
those corporations which, because
they are common carriers, exercise a
quasi-public function, and which can
be completely controlled in all respects
by the federal government, by the ex
ercise of the power conferred under
the interstate commerce clause, and.
If necessary, under the post-road clause
of the constitution. During the last
few years w r e have taken marked
strides in advance along the road of
proper regulation of these railroad cor
porations, but we must not stop in the
work. The national government should
exercise over them a Bimllar supervis
ion and control to that which It exer
cises over national banks. We can do
this only by proceeding farther along
the lines marked out by the recent na
tional legislation.
In dealing with any totally new set
of conditions there must at the outset
be hesitation and experiment. Such
has been our experience in dealing
with the enormous concentration of
capital employed in interstate busi
ness. Not only the legislatures but
the courts and the people need gradu
ally to'be .educated so that they may
see what the real wrongs are and what
the real remedies.
Almost every big business concern
Is engaged in interstate commerce, and
such a concern must not be allowed, by
a dexterous shifting of position, as has
been too often the case in the past, to
escape thereby all responsibility either
to Btate or to nation.
Remedies Not Effectual.
The American people became firmly
convinced of the need of control over
theae great aggregations of capital, es
pecially where they had a monopolistic
tendency, before they became quite
clear as to the proper way of achieving
the ojntrol. Through their represen
tative# la Congress they tried two
The laying of the cornerstone
of the Cape Cod Pilgrim memo
rial monument at Provincetown,
Massachusetts, gave President
Roosevelt occasion to deliver
what probably is the most not
able address of his entire ca
reer. He grasped the opportu
nity to thrust and slash at his
pet aversions—the predatory
rich and the apostles of disor
der. The address was most ef
fective and is bound to produce
results that will be felt at the
farthest corners of the country,
its most strenuous paragraph
was altered twice within twenty
four hours, and as ultimately de
livered was about as plain a
gage of battle to criminal
wealth as the President has
ever uttered.
remedies, which were, to a large de
gree, at least as Interpreted by the
courts, contradictory. On the one hand,
under the anti trust law, the effort was
made to prohibit all combination,
whether it was or was not hurtful or
beneficial to the public. On the other
hand, through the interstate commerce
law, a beginning was made in exercis
ing such supervision and control over
combinations as to prevent their do
ing anything harmful to the body poli
tic. The first law, the so-called Sher
man law, has filled a useful place, for
it bridges over the transition period
until the American people shall defin
itely make up its mind that it will ex
ercise over the great corporations
that thoroughgoing and radical control
which it- is certain ultimately to find
necessary. The principle of the Sher
man law, so far as it prohibits com
binations which, whether because ot
their extent or of their character, are
harmful to the public, must always be
preserved. Ultimately, and 1 hope with
reasonable speed, the national govern
ment must pass laws which, while in
creasing the supervisory and regula
tory power of the government, also
permit such useful combinations as are
made with absolute openness and as
the representatives of the government
may previously approve. But It will
not be possible to permit such combi
nations save as the second stage in a
course of proceedings of which the
first stage must, be the exercise of a
far more complete control by the na
tional government.
In dealing with those who offend
against the anti-trust and interstate
commerce laws the Department of Jus
tice has to encounter many and great
difficulties. Often men who have been
guilty of violating these law’s have re
ally acted in criminal fashion and ir
possible should be proceeded against
criminally, and therefore it is advis
able that there should be a clause in
these laws providing for such criminal
action and for punishment by impris
onment as well as by fine. But, as is
w’ell known, in a criminal action the
law is strictly construed in favor of
the defendant, and In our country at
least, both judge and jury are far more
inclined to consider his rights than
they are the interests of the general
public; while in addition it is always
true that a man’s general practices
may be so bad that a civil action will
lie when it may not be possible to con
vict him of any one criminal act.
The Undesirable Citizen.
There is unfortunately a certain
number of our fellow countrymen w’ho
seem to accept the view that unless a
man can be proved guilty of some par
ticular crime he shall be oounted a
good citizen, no matter how infamous
the life he has led, no matter how per
nicious his doctrines or his practices.
This is the view announced from time
to time with clamorous insistence, now
by a group of predatory capitalists,
now by a group of sinister anarchistic
leaders and agitators whenever a spe
cial champion of either dlass, no mat
ter how evil his general life, is ac
quitted of some one specific crime.
Such a view is wicked whether applied
to capitalist or labor leader, to rich
man or poor man. But we have to take
this feeling into account when we are
debating whether it is possible to get
a conviction in a criminal proceeding
against some rich trust magnate, many
of whose actions are severely to be
condemned from the moral and social
standpoint, but no one of whose ac
tions seems clearly to establish such
technical guilt as will insure a convic
tion. As a matter of expediency in en
forcing the law against a great corpor
ation we have continually to weigh the
arguments pro and con as to whether
a prosecution can successfully be en
tered Into, and as to whether we can
be successful in a criminal action
against the chief individuals in the
corporation, and if not, whether we
can at least be successful in a civil ac
tion against the corporation itself.
Any effective action on the part of the
government is always objected to, as
a matter of course, by the wrongdoers,
by the beneficiaries of the wrongdoers
and by their champions; and often one
of the most effective wa*’8 of attack
ing the action of the government is by
objecting to practical action upon the
ground that it does not go far enough.
One of the favorite devices of those
who are really striving to prevent the
enforcement of these laws Is to clamor
for action of such severity that it can
not be undertaken, because 1L will be
certain to fail If tried. An Instance of
this is the demand often made for
criminal prosecutions where such
prosecutions would be certain to fall.
We have found by actual experience
that a jury which will gladly punish a
corporation by fine, for instance, will
acquit the individual members of that
corporation if we proceed against them
criminally, because of those very
things which the corporation which
they direct and control has done. In
a recent case against the licorice trust
we indicted and tried the two corpora
tions and their respective presidents.
The contracts and other transactions
establishing the guilt of the corpora
tions were made through, and so far
as they were In writing were signed
by, the two presidents. Yet the jury
convicted the two corporations and ac
quitted the two men. Both verdicts
could not possibly have been correct;
but apparently the average juryman
wishes to see trusts broken up and is
quite ready to fine the corporation it
self, but is very reluctant to find the
facts “proven beyond a reasonable
doubt” when It comes to sending to
jail a reputable member of the busi
ness community for doing what the
business community has unhappily
grown to recognize as well nigh nor
mal In business. Moreover, under the
necessary technicalities of criminal
proceedings often the only man who
can be reached criminally will be some
subordinate who is not the.real guilty
party at all.
Punishment of Predatory Rich.
Many men of large wealth have been
guilty of conduct which from the moral
standpoint is criminal, and their mis
deeds are to a peculiar degree repre
hensible, because those committing
them have no excuse of want, of pov
erty, of weakness and ignorance to
offer as partial atonement. When in
addition to moral responsibility, these
men have a legal responsibility which
can be proved so as to impress a Judge
and Jury, then the department will
strain ever nerve to reach them crimi
nally. Where this is impossible, then
It will take whatever action will be
most effective under the actual con
ditions.
In the last six years we have shown
that there is no individual and no cor
poration so powerful that he or it
stands above the possibility of punish
ment under the law.
During the present trouble with the
stock market, I have, of course, re
ceived countless requests and sugges
tions, public and private, that I should
say or do something to ease the situa
tion. There Is a world-wide financial,
disturbance. It is felt in the bourses
of Paris and Berlin and British con
sole are lower, while prices of railway
securities have also depreciated. On
the New York Stock Exchange the dis
turbance has been particularly severe
—most of it I believe to be due to mat
ters not particularly confined to the
United States and to matters wholly
unconnected with any government ac
tion, but it may well be that the de
termination of the government in
which, gentlemen, it will not waver, to
punish certain malefactors of great
wealth, has been responsible for some
thing of the troubles, at least to the
extent of having caused these men to
combine to bring about as much finan
cial distress as they possibly can In
order to discredit the policy of the
government and thereby to secure a
reversal of that policy * so that they
may enjoy the fruits of their own evil
doings.
That they have misled a good many
people into believing that there should
be such a reversal of policy is possible.
If so, I am sorry, but it will not alter
my attitude. Once for all, let me say
that, as far as I am concerned,
and for t-e eighteen months of
my administration that remain, there
will be no change In the policy we
have steadily pursued, nor let up In the
effort to secure the honest observance
of the law. for I regard this contest as
one to determine who shall rule this
government—the people through their
governmental agents, or a few’ ruthless
and determined men whose wealth
makes them particularly formidable—
because they are behind the breast
works of corporate organization.
I wish there to be no mistake on
this point. It is idle to ask me not to
prosecute criminals, rich or poor. But
I desire no less emphatically to have
it understood that we have undertaken,
and will undertake, no action of a vin
dictive type, and above all no action
which shall Inflict great or unmerited
suffering upon the innocent stockhold
ers and upon the public as a whole.
Our purpose Is to act with the mini
mum of harshness compatible with ob
taining our ends.
In the man of great wealth who has
earned his wealth honestly nnd used it
wisely we recognize # good citizen
worthy of all praise and respect. Busi
ness can only be done under modern
conditions through corporations, and
our purpose is to heartily favor the cor
porations that do well. The adminis
tration appreciates that liberal but hon
est profit for legitimate promoters and
generous dividends for capital em
ployed either in founding or continuing
an honest venture are the factors nec
essary for successful corporate activity
and therefore for generally prosperous
business conditions.
All these are compatible with fair
dealing as between man and man and
rigid obedience to the law. Our aim
Is to help every honest man, every hon
est corporation, and our policy means
in its ultimate analysis a prosperous
expansion of business activities, of
honest business men and honest corpo
rations.
Men of License.
Those professed friends of liberty
who champion license are the worst
foes of liberty and tend by the reaction
their violence causes to throw the gov-
crnment back Into the hands of the
men who champion corruption and tyr
anny in the name of order. So it is
with this movement for securing: Jus
tice toward all men and equality of op
portunity so far as it can be secured
by governmental action. The rich man
who with hard arrogance declines to
consider the rights and the needs of
those who are less well off, and the
poor man who excites or indulges in
envy and hatred of those who are bet
ter ofT, are alike alien to the spirit of
our national life. Each of them should
learn to appreciate the baseness and
degradation of his point of view, as
evil in one case as in the other. There
exists no more sordid and unlovely
type of social development than a'plu
tocracy, for there is a peculiar un
wholesomeness in a social and govern
mental ideal where wealth by and of it
self is held up as the greatest good.
The materialism of such a view,
whether it finds its expression in the
life of a man who accumulates a vast
fortune in ways that are repugnant to
every instinct of generosity and of
fair dealing, or whether it finds its ex
pression in the vapidly useless and
self-indulgent life of the inheritor of
that fortune, is contemptible In the
eyes of all men capable of a thrill of
lofty feeling. Where the power of the
law can be wisely used to prevent or to
minimize the acquisition or business
employment of such wealth and to
make it pay by income or inheritance
tax its proper share of the burden of
government, I would invoke that power
without a moment’s hesitation.
But while we can accomplish some
thing by legislation, legislation can
never be more than a part, and often
no more than a small part, in the gen
eral scheme of moral progress; and
crude or vindictive legislation may at
any time bring such progress to a halt.
Certain socialistic leaders propose to
redistribute the world’s goods by re
fusing to thrift and energy and indus
try their proper superiority over folly
and idleness and sullen envy. Such
legislation would merely, in the words
of the president of Columbia univer
sity, “wrecU the world’s efficiency for
the purpose of redistributing the
world’s discontent.” We should all of
us work heart and soul for the real
and permanent betterment which will
lift our democratic civilization to a
higher level of safety and usefulness.
Such betterment can come only by the
slow, steady growth of the spirit which
metes a generous, but not a sentimen
tal, justice to each man on his merits
as a man, and which recognizes the
fact that the highest and deepest hap
piness for the individual lies not in
selfishness, but in service.
Milk of Human kindness Curdles.
Stamford, Conn.—The milk of hu
man kindness is curdling within Jo
seph O’Neill, the titian-haired youth
who is caretaker of the bathhouse at
Shippan Point. At the risk of his life
O’Neill has saved two women and
two men from drowning. Only last
Sunday a man who can not swim got
out of his depth while bathing. With
out taking off his coat O’Neill plunged
in, and seizing the drowning man’s
hair as he was sinking for the last time
and dragged him ashore.
“You came precious near pulling out
all my hair,” grouchily said the man he
had saved, to O’Neill.
”*nat was the limit,” gloomily re
marked the red-headed young man to
day. “Neither the women nor the
other men I saved said as much as
’Thank .you, Joe.’ I remember reading
in my copybook at school ‘A live mouse
is worth more than a dead lion.’ But
that is not always true. By the law in
this state anyone who finds a drowned
body only has to anchor it, notify the
coroner, and get $5 reward. Of course,
I don’t want to see anybody drown,”
said O’Neill, “but $5 is $5. and $5 is a
good deal of money to me.”
“I hardly blame you, Joe. I never
saw such ungrateful persons as those
you yanked out,” sympathetically re
marked Richard Elias, who runs the
bathhouses.
‘I know you will not let anybody
drowji. Besides, remember, that drown
ings spoil business.”
It is rumored that certain timid
bathers at Shippan Point have signed
contracts promising O’Neill that he
will fly to their rescue in case of need
and they will give him at least $5.
Rode Wheel in Her Sleep.
Fort Dodge, lowa. —The ghostlike
apparation of a girl astride a bicycle
flitting about the streets after midnight
will not startle resident in the east
end any longer. For weeks pedestrians
abroad late at night have been scared.
Clad In a flowing white garment, with
hair streaming behind her and the gas
lamps revealing bare feet and ankles,
the ghost rider had excited a good deal
of interest as well as fright. Several
attempts made to follow the rider had
failed because the bicycle always dis
appeared.
One night recently a policeman, at
tracted by a crash and a scream, ran
around a corner and solved the mys
tery. He fouud a young and pretty girl
clad in a thin night dress which had
suffered" severely when the wheel she
was riding struck a brick. The girl
was dazed, but told the policeman
where she lived. He escorted her home
and startled her father, a well known
merchant, who thought his daughter
was safe in bed.
The girl said she had no recollection
of her night rides. She had been flit
ting about the streets on her wheel and
in her nightdress asleep.
“Stick,” Says Telegraphers.
Denver. —“Stick.” That’s the battle
cry of the Telegraphers’ union.
From Maine to California the
knights of the keys are wearing little
silk ribbon badges with the above in
scription just below the insignia of the
order.
The officers of the local union re
ceived notification from New York
that this badge had been adopted by
the national organization and a suf
ficient supply was printed to give each
member one to wear on the lapel of
his coat.
Schmitz Not Authority.
San Francisco, Cal.—The State Su
preme Court today rendered a decision
in the McKannay salary case, sustain
ing the legality of the removal of
Mayor Schmitz and the appointment of
Mayor Taylor.
INDIAN HARD TO DOWN.
Pioneers Still Object to Using Figure
of Poor Lo on Pedestal.
Denver.—Will the figure of an Indian
be used on the pioneers’ monument to
be erected in Denver? That is the
question that is being settled at a se
ries of conferences between the mem
bers of the real estate exchange monu
ment committee and Frederick Mac-
Monnies, the sculptor who designed
the figure.
Mr. MacMonnies arrived unexpect
edly from Paris to confer with the
committee over the design. There has
been some objection to the Indian fig
ure, and there is a possibility that the
artist will be asked to make a new de
sign. Mr. MacMonnies, however, likes
the Indian monument and will not give
up his chosen theme without a hard
fight. He said that if the committee
insisted on a change he would make
an entirely new design, as it would be
impossible, from an artistic standpoint,
to substitute something else for the In
dian and retain the other parts of the
original plan. Furthermore, the sculp
tor intimated that if he and the com
mittee could not agree on a design
tnat accorded with his artistic ideas,
he would have nothing to do with the
monument at all.
Some time ago J. S. Flower, chair
man of the monument committee, sent
out 1,100 circular letters to pioneers
and Sons of Colorado, asking for ex
pressions of opinion on the Indian de
sign. Three hundred replies were re
ceived, of which 195 were favorable to
the Indian design.
Mr. MacMonnies is the designer of
many notable works in America and
Europe. Among the best known of his
American designs are the fountain at
the Chicago World’s Fair, the McClel
lan monument at Washington, the Na
than Hale monument at West Point 1
and the entrance to Prospect park at
Brooklyn.
Mr. MacMonnies called on Mayor
Speer in company with Mr. Reed, pres
ident of the art commission, and talked
over the proposed design with the
chief executive of the city. It is be
lieved that there will be no further op
position to the Indian supreme.
Changing the dominant figure of the
monument would, in the estimation of
the sculptor, impair the whole.
Negroes May Colonize.
Colorado Springs, Colo. —The follow'-
ing are the new officers elected for the
ensuing year by the Negro Business
Men’s League of Colorado and New
Mexico, which closed its annual con
vention here.
President, H. F. Bray of Pueblo;
first vice president, Dr. J. H. P. West
brook of Denver; second vice presi
dent, Mrs. C. E. Fleming of Colorado
Springs; recording secretary, W. A
Gatewood of Eastonville; correspond
ing secretary, J. R. Bates of Pueblo;
treasurer, M. B. Brooks*of Pueblo;
state organizer, F. M. Roberts of Cola
rado Springs, first colored graduate o|
Colorado college; executive committee,
E. P. Booze of Colorado Springs, chair
man; o! T. Jackson of Boulder, C. A.
Franklin of Denver, C. E. Jackson of
Aspen, G. W. Gross of Swink, T. O.
Mason of Albuquerque. New Mexico.
W. H. Prince and T. H. Protro, both of
Pueblo.
It was resolved to establish a com
mercial agency simitar to those of Dun
and Bradstreet and that the secretary
of each local league act as local agent
for the commercial institution in ordei
to ascertain the assets and commercial
standing of all negroes in the two
3tates.
A committee of three members will
be appointed to confer with the State
Land Board with regard to the vacant
land in Colorado, this information to
be sent to negroes in all parts of the
country who may desire to locate here.
Society Favorite Kills Himself.
Pueblo.—With the bedclothes pulled
over his head, scorched and powder
burned, in his lifeless hand a revolver,
through his mouth a bullet hole, the
body of John I. Scott, twenty-five yeaar
of age, handsome, rich, a society lion
and ranch owner, was found in bed in
his room at the Grand hotel here
Thursday. Scott had been drinking
heavily, it is said, and had spent his
money without stint lately. The last
3een of him was Wednesday morning
after he had emertained a large party
of friends in a cafe the night before.
Money troubles is the cause assigned.
Scott came here Tuesday morning
from Colorado Springs. He drank all
day. While standing in the hotel bar
chatting with the bartender he told
the attendant he had been spending too
much money and that he was in tfcJ’t.
He said he had spent $1,500 at the Ant
lers hotel in Colorado Springs within a
week.
Scott was well known in society cir
cluse in Denver and in this city. With
Leonard Curtis, son of a millionaire, he
owned a ranch near Swallows. Colo
rado. He told friends he would have
to sell his interest, in this to pay his
obligations, although he seemed never
to lack money. For many years his
family had been prominent in Pitts
burg. His father, who died lately, was
the law partner of Congressman Dal
zell of that state, and was wealthy. His
widowed mother still lives there.
Grand Lake Regatta.
Grand Lake, Colo. —Before the
largest crowd that ever witnessed the
Grand Lake yacht races, Highball, en
tered by Vice Commodore R. C. Camp
bell, defeated the Dorothy 11., entered
by Commodore H. W. Bryant Thurs
day. The Highball was captained by
George Fletcher, with former United
States Senator T. M. Patterson and R.
C. Campbell as his crew, and State
Senator Wright as a passenger. The
Dorothy carried. Commodore Bryant
and H. O. Huston. The Highball fin
ished the five and three-quarters miles
course in two hours and four minutes.
The Dorothy 11. came in nine minutes
and six seconds later. The Jessica
and Lulu, the Langley and Gregg en
tries, were caught in a calm and were
out of the race. The day was an ideal
one for yachting.
"HOLY WAR”
IS DISGRACE
MASSACRE OF DEFENSELESS MEN
AND WOMEN. BLOT ON
CIVILIZATION.
SULTAN BRINGS HELP
FRENCH AND BPANIBH SOLDIERS
BUTCHER MOORB AND COM
MIT ATROCITIES.
Tangier, Morocco.—“ Holy war” has
been proclaimed by Mulai Hafld, the
sultan’s brother, who has been pro
claimed ruler of Morocco by hordes of
rebel fanatics. The rebel sultan Is
reported to be marching to the aid of
the Arabs and Moors now besieging the
French troops in Casa Blanca with a
force of 10,000 men, and a desperate
attack on that city is expected
tarily. The combined rebel forces, it
is feared, will annihilate the French
and Spanish troops and butcher all
Europeans in that city. With the
green banner of Moslem fanaticism
raised, Mulai Hafld is stirring the
whole country to a frenzy of rage
against all foreigners.
London.—Atrocities too horrible to
mention, and which were a disgrace to
the civilization they were supposed to
represent are charged against the
French and Spanish soldiers and sail
ors at Casa Blanca by W. T. Bolton, the
first refugee from Casa Blanca to reach
England.
The whole massacre there, Bolton as
serts, was deliberately arranged by the
French. The invasion of Casa Blanca
was so arranged as to cause the Moors
to resort to violence, thus giving the
Invaders an excuse for shooting down
helpless natives and resorting to ter
rible outrages against the Moors.
Bolton is connected with the North
African mission. He made a lengthy
statement, bristling with sensational
charges, which show the French and
Spanish occupants of Casa Blanca in a
terriblo light. He said:
“The conduct of the French and
Spanish soldiers at Casa Blanca was a
disgrace to civilization. It is almost
beyond belief that such horrors as
were committed by the French and
Spaniards could have been done by
- Europeans. Though my
country has alliances with both France
and Spain, I consider it my duty to re
veal the truth, and I declare France de
liberately arranged to cause the mas
sacre at Casa Blanca as an act of petty
revenge.
“It was all a brutish blunder. If in
the first Instance France had landed
500 or 600 men to preserve order, there
would not have been any massacre.
There was no need for France to
to capture the town, for the Moor#
stood ready even to deliver the keys to
France if they had been asked for, and
to punish In any way agreeable to
France the assassins of Europeans, all
of whom were in prison.
“But France landed less than 100
men, who tried to force their way into
Casa Blanca, and when the Moors re
sisted, began shooting.
“When the French got control of
Casa Blanca they let in the foreign
heathen. Many of the crimes commit
ted by the soldiers are indescribable.
I saw tl\em looting; I saw them carry
ing away young Moorish girls; commit
ting unmentionable crimes right in the
streets; I saw them massacre wounded
and helpless natives. One Moor I saw
emerge, unarmed, from a saint’s tomb,
and try to escape, but he was shot
down. While he was helpless on the
ground a soldier rushed up and beat
out his brains.
“Orders were issued that all natives
carrying white flags must be safe
guarded, but the order was useless, for
the soldiers never looked for flags, but
shot to kill every time they saw a hu
man being. I saw one Moor run the
gauntlet of forty bullets before he fell.
French officers at Casa Blanca are try
ing to excuse excesses by saying the
soldiers got out of control, but it is not
so. The officers made no attempt to
control the men, but simply allowed
them a free hand.
“France has disgraced herself as a
civilized power. She allowed 1,000 de
fenseless people to be massacred.
“Stories told me by the Moors
heartrending. One Moorish
said: ‘My young son is dead. My
three daughters are worse than dead.’
“This is a short history of many
families. What I saw will go down
.with me to my grave as too horrible
even to think of.
“The French have proved themselves
totally incompetent to govern Morocco.
If Germany or England had been com
pelled to take Casa Blanca they would
have done so with scarcely any blood
shed.”
Paris. —The Moroccan situation is re
garded here as having assumed a dis
tinctly more serious aspect. The fer
ment in the interior of Morocco, the
proclamation of Mulai Hafld, the sul
tan’s brother, as sultan of a section of
the rebels, and the appearance of a
new Moorish army befoie Casa Blanca,
have created the fear that the whole
country will soon be ablaze with fanat
icism.
General Drude, commander of the
French forces at Casa Blanca, has now
practically asked for reinforcements,
pointing out that his men are worn out
with being constantly under arms, and
that he is losing advantage gained by
his success because the small force at
his disposal prevents him from follow r
ing up his victory.
The government appreciates the Jus
tice of the arguments, and, although or
ders to forward additional troops to
Morocco hr.B not been issued up to
noon today, the government is expected
to decide on this step before night.
Ov,pr 1,000 colonial infantry, cavalry
and troops of other arms have been
mobilized at Oran and ready to embark
on board transports, and other trans
ports and warships are in
Mediterranean ports to sail imroeW
ateiy for Morocco.