istration he is lulled into a false security from which he cannot be awakened until it is too late.
So long as the public credits the Administration with the high purposes which it claims for itself, it cannot believe the Administration capable of an injustice against Mexico—and when the latter proposes an injustice, the public may readily be persuaded to view it as justice.
Just so long will America be in danger of embarking upon a brutal aggression in the guise of a shining mission of mercy.
A war upon Mexico cannot be brought about by the Wall Street gentlemen except as they operate through the Administration at Washington. The present crisis could not have been brought about except through cooperation between these gentlemen and the Administration of Wilson. The interventionist propaganda would be of no more importance than a jackal's howl did not the interventionists have the cooperation of the Government of the United States.
The sad truth is that the Administration of Woodrow Wilson is committed to a policy which must inevitably result, if continued, in one of two things: (1) The acceptance by Mexico, under threat of war, of the authority of the United States to dictate Mexico's internal policies; (2) an American war of aggression to impose acceptance of such authority.
The prosecution of this policy has produced the oil crisis, which is as sharp as can be without actual hostilities between the two countries. Although, by postponing its program of reform, the Mexican Government has postponed hostilities again and again, it has neither abandoned that program nor conceded the authority of the United States to insist upon its abandonment. It has never yielded in principle, and it appears to be unwilling to yield sufficiently to satisfy those who hold the reins here.
I quote from a Message of Carranza, September 1, 1919:
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