Why war?

• Author: La Follette, Robert M.
• Position: 1911 - Mexico-United States foreign relations - Brief article

March 18, 1911

Why is the President massing troops on the Mexican border?

The Constitution vests in the Congress the right to make war. And rightly so. The people pay the bill, and give their lives. The time is past--at least we thought the time had passed--when wars were made by kings to serve their selfish purpose.

But we are told this is not war. It is "intervention."

Never in our history have we done this thing before.

What is the reason for this unwarranted and unaccountable use of the military establishment of our republic against a peaceful neighbor?

Is it because Henry W. Taft, brother of the President, is a director in Pierson and Son, an English corporation--the largest single...