n into
Mexico and later to dispatch most of the regular army and large bodies
of militia to the border.

The raids of Villa created a very awkward situation. Carranza not only
made no real effort to suppress Villa, but he vigorously opposed the
steps taken by the United States to protect its own citizens along the
border, and even assumed a threatening attitude. There was a loud and
persistent demand in the United States for war against Mexico.
American investments in land, mines, rubber plantations, and other
enterprises were very large, and these financial interests were
particularly outraged at the President's policy of "watchful waiting."
The President remained deaf to this clamor. No country had been so
shamelessly exploited by foreign capital as Mexico. Furthermore, it
was suspected and very generally believed that the recent revolutions
had been financed by American capital. President Wilson was determined
to give the Mexican people an opportunity to reorganize their national
life on a better basis and to lend them every assistance in the task.
War with Mexico would have been a very serious undertaking and even a
successful war would have meant the military occupation of Mexico for
an indefinite period. After our entrance into the World War many of
those Americans who dissented radically from Wilson's Mexican policy
became convinced that his refusal to become involved in war with Mexico
was a most fortunate thing for us.

It has been charged that there was a lack of consistency between the
President's Mexican policy and his Haitian policy. The difference
between the two cases, however, was that order could be restored in
Haiti with a relatively small force of marines, while any attempt to
apply force to Mexico would have led to a long and bloody conflict.
The most novel feature of the President's Mexican policy was his
acceptance of the mediation of the ABC Alliance and his subsequent
consultation with the leading representatives of Latin America. This
action brought the Pan-American ideal almost to the point of
realization. It was received with enthusiasm and it placed our
relations with Latin America on a better footing than they had been for
years.

It was suggested by more than one critic of American foreign policy
that if we were to undertake to set the world right, we must come
before the bar of public opinion with clean hands, that before we
denounced the imperialistic policies of Europe, we s