course open was to recognize Carranza—and that it was due to this stand of the Latin-American Governments that the President reluctantly consented to recognize Carranza.
Our recognition of Carranza did not, however, by any means see the end of the Administration plots against him.
14.
WHY "HE KEPT US OUT OF WAR" WITH MEXICO
The best things that can be said of the Wilson Mexican policy are chiefly of a negative character. The President did not recognize Huerta. He did not recognize Villa. Ultimately each of his various invasions came to an end. His aggressions were never carried to the extreme conceivable limit. He never fully satisfied the demands of the most passionate and headlong of the interventionists.
It is for this reason that there are perfectly honest persons who are still inclined to trust him to continue to "keep us out of war" with Mexico. Such confidence is illusory and is perhaps the most dangerous factor in the situation.
For the worst thing that can be said of the Wilson Mexican policy is that it unerringly operates to bring about every condition which the most violent of the interventionists desire.
I do not charge that any party to the intervention conspiracy wants war merely for the sake of war. What is wanted is protection of a highly benevolent character to those who are interested in the exploitation of Mexican resources for their own private profit. Wall Street wants war only because it despairs of procuring the kind of protection it wants without war.
Even now, if by threats, diplomacy, bribery, or other means less drastic than war, Wall Street could be assured of a "stable" reactionary government in Mexico, similar to the Diaz autocracy, or even a far more liberal government, so long as it is sufficiently friendly to "business," it is certain that the National Association for the Protection of American Rights in Mexico would at once disband, and the intervention propaganda disappear.
Again, even the interventionist, however energetically he may work for war, does not want war until war can be successfully put over. There are persons who for years have agitated for war with Mexico, knowing full well that the time was not
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