s introduced in Congress were denounced by
military experts as half-measures likely to produce no efficient result,
and the President, who in most matters was determined to dominate, in
this permitted congressional committees to have their way. The protests
of the Secretary of War, Lindley M. Garrison, led to his resignation; and
(most curious development) the President replaced him by a man, Newton D.
Baker, who, whatever his capacity, was generally known as a pacifist.
Wilson's intelligence told him that military preparation was necessary,
if his policy of international service was to be anything more than
academic; but his pacific instincts prevented him from securing real
military efficiency.

An example of the unreadiness of the United States was furnished in the
late spring and summer of 1916, when relations with Mexico became strained
almost to the breaking point. President Wilson's handling of the knotty
Mexican problem had been characteristic. He had temporized in the hope
that anything like a break might be avoided and was resolutely opposed to
formal armed intervention. But after refusing to recognize Huerta, who had
gained his position of provisional president of Mexico through the murder
of Madero, in which he was evidently implicated, the President had ordered
the occupation of Vera Cruz by United States troops in retaliation for the
arrest of an American landing party and Huerta's refusal to fire an
apologetic salute. Huerta was forced to give up his position and fled, but
the crisis continued and American-Mexican relations were not improved. The
country was left in the hands of three rival presidents, of whom Carranza
proved the strongest, and, after an attempt at mediation in which the
three chief South American powers participated, President Wilson decided
to recognize him. But Mexican conditions remained chaotic and American
interests in Mexico were either threatened or destroyed. In the spring of
1916 an attack on American territory led by a bandit, Francisco Villa,
again roused Wilson to action. He dispatched General John J. Pershing
across the border to pursue and catch Villa. The expedition was difficult,
but well-conducted; it extended far south of the frontier and provoked the
protests of Carranza. At the moment when Pershing's advance guard seemed
to have its hands on the bandit, orders were given to cease the pursuit.

The opponents of the Administration had some excuse for laughing at the
"in