And this dastardly piece of land piracy was endorsed by all the governments of Europe--Kaiser Wilhelm personally congratulated President Roosevelt. Ten million dollars was loaned by J. P. Morgan & Co. to the Republic of Panama and the bonds are guaranteed by the United States. In 1848 the dominant economic class was represented by the slave-owning, cotton-growing element in the South. They sent troops to the border of Mexico with the sole purpose of fomenting trouble so as to have some valid excuse for the invasion of Mexico. They succeeded and took from Mexico one-half of her territory. The dominant economic class today is represented by Banking, Railroad, Oil, Mining and other interests and they are playing the same game that the exploiters of chattel slaves played in 1848. To prove this is an easy matter, all one has to do is to read a few extracts from the current press. |From the Chicago _Tribune_, June 24, 1916: INTERVENTION GROWS IN FAVOR. Members of Congress Fear It Is Inevitable--Favor Annexing a Part. * * * It also transpires that many senators and representatives who advocate immediate intervention also favor annexing the northern portion of the republic as compensation for the cost of the undertaking. . . . Typical expressions of opinion follow: Representative Rainey--Events of the week seem to make it clear that there is no way of escaping intervention in Mexico. We have striven and striven to get along with our neighbor, but it seems impossible. We have on our southern border the longest boundary in existence between a civilized and a semi-civilized nation. To police it properly would require over 2,000,000 men. I favor taking over the northern tier of Mexican states. Representative Sabath--I hope it will not be necessary to intervene, but if we do and are forced to lose the lives of a number of men, we should annex the country either wholly or in part. _SHOULD DO A GOOD JOB._ Representative Britten--If it becomes necessary to go into Mexico, we should make a complete job of it by annexing the northern tier of Mexican states. Representative Denison--If it turns out that our troops were treated treacherously we should not hesitate to intervene. We should go southward, taking the border with us. We should either do this or receive a large indemnity. On June 24, 1916, the Chicago _American_ printed a cartoon that pictured in the most brazen way what the capitalists intended to do, and followed it later with an editorial from which the following extracts are taken: "Nothing worth while will be accomplished by occasional 'punitive expeditions.'"... "The way to IMPRESS the Mexicans is to REPRESS the Mexicans. The way to begin is to say to them: . . . "We are no longer planning to catch this bandit or that. We are GOING INTO MEXICO. And as far as we GO, _we'll stay_." . . .