IS THIS DIPLOMACY-OR WHAT?
IS THIS DIPLOMACY—OR WHAT? ON MARCH SEVENTH the War Department suddenly ordered the greatest movement of regular troops ever undertaken in this country in time of peace. The official statement said...
...I'll put on an old coat...
...The United States has determined that the revolution in the republic to the south must end...
...The official statement said this was simply "to try out organization and equipment, and to locate any defects therein...
...Servant—"Oh, that's all right...
...Next day press dispatches reported that "Washington officials continue to declare that this concentration of twenty thousand troops and various naval forces near the Mexican border is simply for maneuvers...
...The movement is made at this time to take advantage of the open season in that section of the country...
...Texas—"and before the season is open in the North for troops to maneuver in the field most advantageously...
...Fliegende Blaetter...
...But be careful, for the paint is not quite dry yet...
...On the ninth there was given out at Washington a dispatch from President Taft to President Diaz, which spoke of "the wrong interpretation and sensational construction made by the newspapers upon the military maneuvers which are going to take place in Texas...
...but, as the American Government was dealing with its own people in a matter of considerable importance, we don't see why the simple truth wouldn't have answered every purpose.—Saturday Evening Post, * * * PAINTER (to his servant)—"Now carry this picture to the exhibition gallery...
...That evening the staff correspondent of the Associated Press, who accompanied the President, filed a dispatch which began: "All doubt as to the purpose of the Government in sending twenty thousand troops to the Mexican border has at last been swept away...
...We suppose this is diplomacy...
...The American troops have been sent to form a solid military wall along the Rio Grande, to stop filibustering and to see that there is no further smuggling of arms and men across the international boundary...
...That afternoon the President left Washington for the South...
Vol. 3 • May 1911 • No. 18
