RED BOOK 1 
 
 MEXICO TODAY 
 
 = =^ AND -.- ' ... , - 
 
 Our Position and Responsibility as A Nation 
 Regarding Conditions in that Country 
 
 With an Opinion as to the Solntion of the Question 
 Without.Further Interference from the 
 United States 
 
 BY ; V, 
 
 K. O. LANCE, M. BC 
 
 An American Representing the Views of 
 Refugees from Mexico now Residing 
 in the United States* 
 
 A iloncentrated Review of Events in Mexico 
 During the Fast Four Years 
 
 San Anttonio, Texas, July 15,1915 
 
 Copyri4l»<«d by R. O. l,«iKoe, M. D. 
 
 641 Dr*cel Areun* San AntanU, T«xa« 
 
RED BOOK 
 
 : AND = 
 
 Our Position and Responsibility as A Nation 
 Re^ardin^ Conditions in that Country 
 
 With an Opinion as to the Solution of the Question 
 Without Further Interference from the 
 United States 
 
 BY 
 
 R. O. LANCE, M. D. 
 
 An American Representing the Views of 
 Refugees from Mexico now Residing 
 in the United States. 
 
 A Concentrated Review of Events in Mexico 
 During the Past Four Years 
 
 San Antonio, Texas, July 15, 1915 
 
 64 1 Dre^el Avenue 
 
 Copyriithtod by R. O. Lance, M« D. 
 
 San Anionio, Texas 
 
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THE RED BOOK 
 
 3 
 
 In this article I shall endeavor to make clear to you the much 
 discussed and misunderstood IMexican question, the cause of the so- 
 called revolution, its effect to date and the natural, logical solution; also 
 the part the United States Government has played in the matter and 
 their responsibility. 
 
 As to my position in the matter I can assure you that I am not 
 affiliated with any of the factions; have known Mexico intimately for 
 more than thirty years from the Rio Grande to the borders of Guate¬ 
 mala and from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico, during which time 
 I have known personally and dealt with many of her authorities as 
 well as having employed and come in contact with thousands of her 
 peons. 
 
 The object of the article is first to acquaint you with the facts and 
 true conditions and then ask your co-operation in seeing that justice 
 is done, not only to Mexico and the IMexicans, but to the seventy thous¬ 
 and of your fellow citizens and thousands of Europeans who have made 
 their homes in that country. 
 
 The American public have been grossly misled regarding condi¬ 
 tions in JMexico, and owing to this and the suppression of facts 
 must, sooner or later, be compelled to shoulder obligations 
 and sacrifice the lives of thousands of her sons if there is not a 
 decided change in our policy regarding the country south of the Rio 
 Grande. 
 
 Now as to the cause of the so-called revolution: One of the prime 
 factors was Francisco I. Madero, an idealist, a man better acquainted 
 with foreign countries and their peoples than with his own; a man who 
 believed, or pretended to believe, that his country was ripe for demo¬ 
 cracy, a government by popular vote; this fact alone proves conclu- 
 siveh'" that he did not know his own countrymen. 
 
 Is it not an established fact that a democratic form of government 
 cannot be successfully established in a country where the majority of 
 the people are not naturally intelligent and know neither how tp read 
 or write? Education makes democracy. Less than twenty-five per 
 cent, of the inhabitants of Mexico know how to read or write, therefore 
 democracy is, at this time, impossible in that country. 
 
 Madero was a spiritualist and his personal and official acts were 
 
4 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 the result of conferences, as he claimed, with his old friends Napoleon 
 Bonaparte and George Washington. 
 
 Another of his ideals, the one which gave him the enormous fol¬ 
 lowing he soon had, almost exclusively among the peon class, was the 
 agrarian plan, or the dividing of the large land holdings among the 
 poor. This is one of the strong points? being used by certain of¬ 
 ficials in Washington to convince the American public that the Mex¬ 
 ican peon is in a state worse than slavery and that it is the duty of this 
 government to do something to alleviate the condition of the poorer 
 classes. In fact this has been one of the principal arguments used in 
 an endeavor to justify the policy of the Washinglon administration. 
 
 Disabuse you mind, reader; this condition did not exist in Mexico 
 during the time that General Diaz held office, and the majority of the 
 officials making these claims know them to be absolutely false and are 
 doing so to gain your support and sympathy, knowing you to be ig¬ 
 norant of the facts. The land question was settled in Mexico years 
 ago, and in a very equitable manner, as follows: 
 
 Under the law of Denouncement every citizen of Mexico, either 
 native or foreigner, had the right to denounce before the Department 
 of Fomento any lands of the public domain, in any state of the re¬ 
 public, at a cost of from $1.25 to $6.00 Mexican currency, a hectara 
 (two and one half acres), and with no strings attached such as im¬ 
 mediate improvements. In addition to this the peons had rights to 
 the lands known as community land; each municipality received from 
 the Central Government a certain portion of federal land in the im¬ 
 mediate vicinity, and each and every native had a right to cultivate 
 or use his proportion of that land without any recompense either to 
 the municipality or the Central Government. 
 
 When you take into consideration the fact that there are hundreds of 
 thousands of acres of public lands in every state, with the exception 
 of the Federal District, which is the same as our District of Columbia, 
 you can readily see that there is no law or condition that prevents the 
 peon from acquiring land. lie does not desire land; if he did he 
 would have taken advantage of his rights of denouncement, as every 
 peon in the country knew he had that right. 
 
 He has no ambition, no initiative, he is shiftless, and like the 
 animal, is satisfied with the needs of to-day without any thought of 
 the morrow. In fact he is below some of our animal life; the squirrel, 
 for in.stance, will store his food to run him over the winter months, 
 but tlie peon will not look that far ahead. lie requires a guiding 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 5 
 
 hand. During the more than thirty years that General Porfirio Diaz 
 ruled the country the peon was as contented as he ever will be so long 
 as he has to work for a living. 
 
 As an example of the customs on a large hacienda or ranch during 
 that time between employer and peon I will illustrate: 
 
 The farm laborer received fifty cents a day as wage; in addition 
 to this he got a jacal, or native house, free of rent, as well as a piece 
 of land to cultivate for himself sufficient to supply the chief staples, 
 such as corn, beans, sugar, vegetables, etc., for the maintenance of him¬ 
 self and family. He was infinitely better off than the American 
 laborer with a family working for a dollar a day. 
 
 If you pay him fifty cents a day he will work six days a week 
 because it is necessary to do so to live; if you raise him to seventy-five 
 cents a day, as I have personally done, he will work only four days of 
 the week, making the same $3.00 which he'requires to meet his needs; 
 if you paid him $3.00 a day he would work one day a week and eat, 
 sleep and drink aguardiente the balance of the time. Every.man know¬ 
 ing the peon will vouch for the fact that this is characteristic of the 
 lower classes in Mexico. 
 
 I will now go back to the reason of iSIadero's tremendous following 
 among this class of people. When he offered them, as he did, a 
 dollar a day, a horse to ride and gun, with a nice farm free after the 
 success of the revolution, as well as the privilege of looting in the mean¬ 
 time, they flocked to him by the thousands. They did not rally round 
 him because he was Madero or represented a principle to them. They 
 would have done the same with anyone who was above them socially 
 and made them the promises IMadero did. Of course, after they 
 served Madero’s end, that is, made him President, he could not comply 
 with his extravagant promises, and his former allies became enemies. 
 It is something on the order of the promises made to the negroes in 
 our own country during the war of ’61 of forty acres and a mule. 
 
 Of the 150,000 comprising Madero’s army 80,000 were criminals of 
 the worst type serving from five to twenty years in the prisons of Mex¬ 
 ico for robbery and murder; his first act upon taking a city or town 
 was to liberate the prisoners and incorporate them in his army. And 
 the majority of the men serving under Carranza and Villa to-day are 
 the same ones who were liberated from the prisons by Madero. Can 
 you wonder jit tlie horrihlc crimes committed l)y these fellows when 
 armed and turned loose on the public with a free rein and the protec¬ 
 tion of their superior officers? 
 
6 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 'I’jicre were other ]K)teiit factors throngli which Madero received 
 financial and physical aid to such an extent that he was able to over¬ 
 throw President Diaz, but of this I do not deem it prudent to speak 
 at this time. History will reveal all this in the future, and I assure 
 you when (lie tbets nre 1<jhuvu every self-respecting American will bow 
 his head in shame for the part he has unconsciously been compelled 
 to take in the commission of the most diabolical crime ever conceived 
 where human blood was played against dollars and cents. 
 
 Upon the resignation of Madero at the request of the Mexican 
 congress, forced through public opinion. General Victoriano Huerta 
 became the legal de jure president of JMexico, and then the troubles of 
 that country began in earnest. In a few days both Madero and 
 Suarez were murdered, and the insinuation was made in Washington 
 from political sources and for political reasons that Huerta was respon¬ 
 sible for these crimes, when the fact of the matter is he was no more 
 responsible than you are. Huerta had everything to lose and nothing 
 to gain through the death of Madero in this manner. He could have 
 imprisoned him or even expatriated him, and with reason and justice. 
 JMadero had verbally agreed to resign and when congress had drafted 
 the document and sent it to him in the National Palace for his signature 
 what did he do? Simply had the bearer of the message, Coronel 
 Riverol, murdered on the spot. 
 
 All of the leaders at this time were playing for recognition from 
 the United States, and Huerta has, on hundreds of occasions, proven 
 himself far too astute to commit any such blunder as this even if Ma¬ 
 dero and Suarez were in the way. But they were not. Huerta was 
 President when they were killed. IVIadero had lost all prestige and w^as 
 considered bj^ the majority of the Mexicans not only an incompetent 
 but a traitor. What had Huerta to fear from them? Absolutely nothing. 
 I positively know that an effort was made to murder Huerta the same 
 night that Madero was killed. 
 
 There were other Mexicans desiring the position, and both Madero 
 and Huerta were in the way; Madero’s murderer is now in Guatemala 
 and for those well informed it is a simple matter to figure out who had 
 the most to gain by the removal of INladero, Suarez and Huerta. 
 
 Reflections have been cast upon the integrity of our own ambas¬ 
 sador at the time, Mr. Henry Lane Wilson, and he was ignominiously 
 removed by the State Department for the simple reason that he com¬ 
 plied with his duty and liad the courage of his convictions. He will 
 at no late day be vindicated at the expense of higher up’s. 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 7 
 
 The Washington administration refused to recognize the govern¬ 
 ment of Huerta although all other civilized countries did. Huerta 
 was known to be a strong man, one who would not pledge certain con¬ 
 cessions in this country as jMadero did, as Carranza has done; these 
 men were willing to sacrifice their country’s riches for their own per¬ 
 sonal gains. Huerta was not willing to do so which accounts for his 
 unpopularity in certain circles at Washington and on Wall Street. 
 
 Mr. Wilson claimed it would be immoral to recognize Huerta; does 
 he mean to say that all of Europe, who did, without exception, re¬ 
 cognize Huerta, are immoral countries? Does this mean that the 
 ITesident of the United States is to set the standard of morality for 
 the rest of the world? Did not President Wilson then lower his standard 
 of morality when he immediately after recognized the president of 
 Peru who entered office over the dead body of his predecessor? Plis 
 recognition of the new President of Peru was tantamount to a confes¬ 
 sion of error regarding Mexico. On the other hand the big interests 
 were not at stake in Peru as they were in jMexico. 
 
 Does this not convince you that there is something being concealed 
 from you, that there is some ulterior motive for wanting and insisting 
 upon a certain individual as president of JMexico. Had Mr. Wilson 
 recognized Huerta when advised to do so by Mr. Moore, the State 
 Department’s brilliant legal adviser, peace would have been restored 
 in Mexico within three months. 
 
 He not only failed to recognize him but placed every obstacle 
 possible in his way, making it a physical impossibility for him to do¬ 
 minate the situation, notwithstanding the fact that Huerta had the 
 symphathy and support of ninety-five per cent, of the inhabitants of 
 liis country. 
 
 Mr. Wilson cut him off from monev, arms and ammunition in 
 this country, and at the same time was openly supplying them to the 
 enemies of law and order. 
 
 I am going to demonstrate to you now that the Washington adminis¬ 
 tration is entirely, solely and exclusively responsible for conditions in 
 JMexico to-day and also that they alone can be instrumental in restor¬ 
 ing the country to normal conditions: 
 
 Early in November, 1913, Mr. Wilson served the following note 
 upon Huerta: 
 
 First; That the first magistrate is of the opinion that the recent 
 conj) d’etat was a direct violation of the assurances which Huerta gave 
 Ills government. 
 
8 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 Second: That unless Huerta, voluntarily and on his own initia¬ 
 tive, retires at once from power and abandons every idea of controlling 
 the organization of the government and the conduct of negotiations, 
 the first magistrate will find himself under the necessity of interven¬ 
 ing by means of an ultimatum, and if this is not accepted he will be 
 obliged to propose to the congress of his country the adoption of pract¬ 
 ical measures of a most serious nature. 
 
 Third: That the government of the first magistrate sincerely 
 
 desires to avoid extreme measures, as much for the sake of Mexico as 
 for the sake of peace in America, and is of itself disposed to act reason¬ 
 ably in order not to wound Huerta’s sense of dignity, and at the same 
 time to give Huerta the personal protection he might need. 
 
 Fourth: That with this purpose in view it proposes the follow¬ 
 ing: that there be selected some person, or small group of persons which 
 to the least possible extent shall have been connected with the recent 
 political disturbances (for example, men of mature age who have re¬ 
 tired from the field of politics and who enjoy the confidence of the 
 people), who shall form a constitutional government and make what¬ 
 ever arrangements may be necessary for a general election. In these 
 elections there shall be selected a new congress and a new chief ex¬ 
 ecutive, to the end that the government be established on a constitutional 
 basis. 
 
 Fifth: That such a course is absolutely necessary to the end that 
 he (the chief executive) merit the approval of the first magistrate, 
 for the reason that the government of the chief magistrate has firmly 
 and irrevocably decided, by one method or another, to eliminate com¬ 
 pletely all assitance that Huerta believes he may receive from foreign 
 sources, if he persists in his proposal to remain in power, it being a 
 further fact that only for a few days longer will he, Huerta, be free 
 to select the course he chooses to follow. His withdraw^al, and conse¬ 
 quent absolute liberty of action in the reestablishment of constitu¬ 
 tional power, alone will be accepted by the chief magistrate. This 
 government cannot urge with too much insitance, now that the out¬ 
 come is inevitable, that Huerta reach his decision wisely and at the 
 same time give full consideration to the terrible consequences which 
 will follow his vacillation or refusal. 
 
 Sixth: That the proposal to substitute Blanquet, or any other 
 representative of the government of Huerta, or any one connected with 
 his coup d’etat, will conduce to further irritation on the part of the first 
 magistrate and inevitable and definite rupture. The same result will 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 
 follow any effort to place in power the candidates chosen at the last 
 election, be it for President or member of congress. 
 
 The above are Mr. Wilson’s own words; now let us dissect this 
 note and see Avhat it means: 
 
 First paragraph: In the first place it was not g, coup d'etat, a.s 
 Huerta was appointed to office by right of succession by the duly 
 elected Mexican Congress, and not by force of arms. Nobody but Mr. 
 Wilson claims it was a coup. 
 
 And supposing that it were a coup, does the American Govern¬ 
 ment, do the American people, wish to presume before the world that 
 they have the right to dictate as to the manner in which the rulers 
 of foreign countries shall be placed in power? You cannot, even if 
 you so wish, endow your President with this faculty; nevertheless when 
 he considered himself authorized to say who or who should not be 
 President of Mexico he compelled you, as American citizens, to assume 
 the enormous responsibilities, both financial and moral, that have re¬ 
 sulted from his presumptions policy in that country. 
 
 Second paragraph: And how could Huerta voluntarily resign 
 when ]Mr. Wilson threatens to stick a gun in his ribs if he does not 
 do so? This is on the order of the voluntary loans collected by Car¬ 
 ranza and Villa. And Mr. Wilson in the same paragraph threatens 
 Huerta with an ultimatum, and if this is not accepted he will propose 
 to the Congress of his country the adoption of practical measures of a 
 most serious nature. Is this not a confession that what was previous¬ 
 ly done was impracticable? When a man starts wrong he is in 
 deep water until he screws up sufficient courage to admit to himself 
 he has been wrong and then rectifies as far as possible his errors. 
 
 Paragraph three: And IMr. Wilson admits that Huerta has a 
 sense of dignity which he does not wish to wound and expresses that 
 wish in an insulting note of this character. It would be laughablo 
 were we not dealing with such a serious question. It is like stepping 
 on one’s pet corn intentionally and asking his pardon, then slapping 
 him in the face and asking that he excuse you. And Mr. Wilson 
 offere Huerta personal protection. That is comical. Huerta never 
 asked for, desired or needed protection from his own people. He need¬ 
 ed protection only from Mr. Wilson’s persecution. lie, as well as all 
 other good Mexicans and thousands of Americans, wanted Mr. Wilson 
 to let him alone and not meddle in the internal affairs of Mexico. I 
 was with him in Mexico City on the night of the day he resigned, 
 standing in the door of ^‘El Globo” on San Francisco Street. Protec- 
 
10 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 tion? His people were shouting “long live Huerta.” 
 
 Paragraph four: Mr. Wilson demands that arrangements for a 
 general election be made. Here, more clearly than ever, he demon¬ 
 strates his ignorance of conditions in Mexico. A general election can¬ 
 not be held in Mexico in less than fifty years from now, -the reason for 
 which I have previously explained. 
 
 Paragrapph five: There should never have been a question raised 
 as to whether Mr. Wilson approved of Huerta or not. It should not 
 have been a question of Huerta’s personality, be he whatsoever Mr. 
 Wilson may think. It was a question as to whether the President of 
 Mexico, in his official capacity, gave the necessary guarantees to protect 
 foreign 'personal and material rights or not. That he did so in ter¬ 
 ritory under his control is beyond question. There is not a single case 
 on record where complaint was made by a foreigner against a ]\Iexican 
 in the territory controlled by Huerta in which a satisfactory settle¬ 
 ment Avas not made. 
 
 And Mr. Wilson says that his government has firmly and ir¬ 
 revocably decided, by one method or another, to eliminate completely 
 all assistance that Huerta believes he may receive from foreign sources, 
 etc. Is that not an appalling, an egotistical statement, a thing 
 impossible of acomplishment? Mr. Wilson threatens all of Europe 
 if they do not obey his instructions and for no other reason than to 
 satisfy a personal grudge he has against Huerta. Every nation in 
 Europe ivas acting strictly within their rights when they shipped arms 
 and ammunition to Huerta. They recognized him as the de jure 
 President of Mexico, he recognized them, and he paid for all he got, 
 in spite of Mr. Wilsons threat. Great Britain, France, Germany, 
 Italy and Japan all sent Huerta war supplies, and openly, long after 
 ]\Ir. Wilson made the above threat. The grape juice must have fer¬ 
 mented the day this note ivas composed. 
 
 In only one instance ivas Mr. Wilson able to pr'event Huerta from 
 getting arms and ammunition, as far as I can learn, and that Avas from 
 Japan. Huerta had sent a commission to Japan to purchase arms and 
 ammunition; this commission contracted and paid for tAventy-five 
 thousand carbines and forty thousand rifles. They also contracted 
 for ten million cartridges Avhich Avere delivered to the commission but 
 rejected by them as Avorthless. Of the rifles twenty thousand Avere 
 shipped a feAV days before the Americans occupied A^eracruz; Avhen the 
 balance of them Avere about to be shipped the Japanese Government 
 notified the commission they could not ship them as a note had been 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 11 
 
 received from the United States requesting them not to allow the ship¬ 
 ment. 
 
 The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The fact of the matter 
 was the Japanese Government refused to allow the shipment, the com¬ 
 mission telegraphed the American State Department making claims, 
 (which telegram was never answered), the Japs sold the arms to 
 Russia and as I am informed by a member of the commission still hold 
 about a inillion pesos of Mexico’s money. Another significant in¬ 
 cident is the fact ihat the next day IMinister Okuma published a state¬ 
 ment to the effect that INIexico could not any longer count on assistance 
 from Japan as they were very good friends to the United States. 
 
 Huerta did the only thing possible under the circumstances, ig¬ 
 noring in toto the note. 
 
 Mr. l^ulson claims to be an advocate of peace but he does not 
 hesitate one minute as President of this country to declare a personal 
 warfare against the President of IVIexico. And by what right, legally 
 or morally, does the President of the United States say who shall or 
 shall not be President of IMexico? "Would you concede the right of 
 the King of England to name your president? •Then how can you 
 expect the Mexicans to allow Mr. AVilson to name their chief executive? 
 
 After Pluerta ignored the above demands Mr. AVilson invited fur¬ 
 ther the crticism of all right-thinking Americans who understood the 
 situation by raising the embargo on arms and ammunition and open¬ 
 ly lent the support of the American nation to the mo.st notorious mur¬ 
 derer and bandit living, Doroteo Arango, alias Pancho ATlla. 
 
 Does it not arouse your indignation to see the support of this 
 great country given to a world-renowned bandit to further his own 
 criminal aspirations through your President publicly supporting him? 
 
 Is it not inexplicable? 
 
 Even with the above support Carranza and Ahlla could not advance, 
 and then Air. AA’’ilson deliberately blockaded the port of Veracruz in 
 an attempt to prevent Huerta from getting the cargo of arms and am¬ 
 munition from the German ship Ypiranga, consigned to Huerta at 
 Veracruz. 
 
 I shall now make clear to yon that the invasion of A^eracruz was 
 not only uncalled for but inexcusible, but you must forget race pre¬ 
 judice and look the facts squarely in the face. The flag incident of 
 Tampico was a prote.st, and the real object was to prevent Huerta from 
 receiving the arms and ammunition on board the Ypiranga. Tho 
 American flag was not insulted at Tampico. Under the circumstan- 
 
12 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 ces there could be no insult to the flag. Some American marines in 
 uniform landed at the dock in Tampico which was being patrolled by 
 Mexican soldiers. Under military law the world over, it is absolute¬ 
 ly prohibited that either armed uniformed soldiers or marines shall 
 land on territory of a foreign nation in a state of war, and such a 
 landing shall be considered as a declaration of war. That same rule 
 is a part of the iVmerican code, and according to your own law and 
 custom the marines were guilty of a breach, and the Mexicans resented 
 it the same as you would do under like circumstances. 
 
 Would you resent the landing of their soldiers on your territory? 
 And if the flag had been insulted at Tampico and that were reason 
 for the invasion would our forces not have been landed at the point 
 where the offense was committed? Our forces were landed at Vera¬ 
 cruz, not Tampico, and with the sole object of preventing Huerta from 
 receiving the cargo of the Ypiranga, as events have proved, and not 
 with the intention of forcing Mexico to salute our flag. If that were 
 the object why has it not been saluted? 
 
 In spite of the fact that according to law and custom the Mexicans 
 had been guilty oUno offense, the military commander of Tampico 
 rendered a prompt apology to the American commander before any 
 claims had been made from Washington, an apology which would have 
 been satisfactory to any country even if an offense such as claimed had 
 been committed. Why has ]\Ir. Wilson not demanded an apology 
 from Villa who publicly tore down the American flag in Chihuahua 
 and spat on it and has violated it on numerous occasions? 
 
 Did ]\lr. Wilson then make good his threat in paragraph five of 
 his note? No. He would then have had a first-class power lo deal 
 with. When the captain of the Ypiranga discovered that Veracruz 
 was in possession of the Americans he refused to discharge his cargo 
 there; he took to the high seas, followed by American cruisiers, got 
 instructions to discharge his cargo at Port of Mexico and deliver it to 
 Huerta’s forces, which he did. There can be no question as to the 
 injustice of this move. It was not only unjust to attempt to prevent 
 the only recognized power in Mexico to get arms and ammunition with 
 which to hold off the different bandit factions and at the same time 
 to allow the criminal element to get them; it was cruel, cowardly, 
 criminal. 
 
 Do not forget that Huerta was the only hope of the decent and 
 virtuous element in Mexico, and that his enemies were the men who 
 have committed the most fiendish of crimes; and do not forget that 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 13 
 
 President Wilson was aware of these facts. If he were ignorant of 
 this there might be some excuse, but he was not, as thousands of letters, 
 telegrams and individuals so informed him, therefore, having the facts 
 before him it can only be classified as above, cruel, cowardly, criminal. 
 
 There was absolutely no excuse for the invasion of Veracruz ex¬ 
 cept to satisfy the personal animosity of Mr. Wilson, and naturally 
 the JMexicans were much incensed and bitter toward Americans. Mr. 
 AVilson then very cooly ordered us out of Mexico. Thousands of for¬ 
 eigners who had their all in that country left, mmiy of them with 
 nothing but the clothing on their backs. At Tampico Iiundreds of 
 Americans congregated; there were two American gunboats in tho 
 harbor, and during the first night of the invasion, April 22, the Amer¬ 
 icans congregated in the Southern Hotel. About 11 p. m. the ex¬ 
 cited mob attacked the hotel shouting ‘‘kill the Americans.” What 
 do you suppose the gunboats did when they heard what was going on? 
 Come to our rescue? No. They up-anchored and took to the high 
 seas, and had it not been for the plucky captain of a German gunboat 
 who landed some of his marines and come to the rescue of the Amer¬ 
 icans some of them would j)robably have been killed. Do not rorget 
 the fact there were many women and children among these people. 
 This is a fair sample of the protection Americans got in Mexico from 
 the present administration. 
 
 Air. Wilson sent to Alexico his personal friend. Air. John Lind, to 
 report on conditions in that country. Air. Lind neither understood 
 the Spanish language nor Latin Americans, therefore was incapable 
 of learning their desires from a political standpoint. He landed in 
 AVracruz, stopped at the consulate; went out and looked up Indepen¬ 
 dence street and down the Fifth of Alay; then took a trip to Alexico 
 City, insulted Huerta by presenting to him Air. AVilson’s note and 
 returned to Veracruz, where he then made the statement that he en¬ 
 tirely understood the Alexican question and conditions in the country; 
 he never was within 500 miles of the section in which battles were 
 being fought, and still he knew it all. 
 
 And there can be no disputing the fact that armed intervention 
 will result if the present policy of supporting bandits and persecuting 
 the decent element continues. There does not, nor has there, existed 
 during the past two years, a single excuse or reason for American 
 intervention in Alexico. All crimes committed against American citi¬ 
 zens and foreigners for whom we were responsible through the Alonroe 
 doctrine were committed by the forces of Carranza and Anlla, undeni- 
 
14 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 ably and admitted by all the world to be Mr. "Wilson’s proteges. Then 
 how can we, why should we, intervene to change a condition of affairs 
 which we have brought about and for which your President is person¬ 
 ally and solely responsible? 
 
 Mr. AVilson in his message to Congress delivered in person on 
 August 27, 1913, said he believed the Alexican government rejected his 
 proposals because “the authorities had been grossly misinformed and 
 misled upon two points.” First, they did not “realize the spirit” of 
 “friendship” and “determination” of the American people ;and secondly 
 “they did not believe that the present administration spoke through 
 Air. Lind for the people of the United States.” AA^as Mr. Lind speak¬ 
 ing for the people of the United States when he said in A^eracruz “the 
 rebels will win in Alexico or there will be American intervention?” 
 
 The Alexican authorities were quite justified in their contention 
 that Air. Lind was not speaking for the American people. He was 
 not. The American people do not sanction meddling in the family 
 affairs of their neighbors. One of the State Department representa¬ 
 tives, particularly, who has covered territory in Northern Alexico for 
 some time, was and has been for several years socially ostracised, tlie 
 decent native and foreign element refusing to associate with him. And 
 there is another, at present with Carranza, who is incompetent for the 
 same reason that Air. Lind was. 
 
 And this is the class of men from whom Air. AA^ilson has secured 
 all his information regarding conditions in Alexico. He certainly had 
 reason to state, as he did, in his speech at Princeton some months 
 ago, that he was misinformed regarding Alexico. The State Department 
 has persistently refused to listen to any of the thousands of Americans 
 who have spent their lives in Alexico, and the best any of us ever got 
 was “you have interests in Alexico and therefore are biased in you 
 opinions.” AVe have been classified as adventurers for the reason we 
 had gone to a foreign country to pioneer. If it were not for the so- 
 called adventurers what would be the status of foreign commerce? 
 
 About one year after the demand was made that Huerta retire 
 within a few days, he did so, voluntarily. He was told by certain di¬ 
 plomatic representatives in Alexico that if he retired and turned over 
 the government to Alr^Carvajal, who*was acceptable to the AAmshington 
 administration, that it would restore peace to the country, assuring 
 him that this country would support Carvajal. Huerta, in the inter¬ 
 est of his country, on those conditions resigned, and Carvajal took 
 his place. AAkas Carvajal recognized? No. On the contrary things 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 15 
 
 were made more difficult for him, and within a few weeks he was 
 compelled, for certain reasons, which at some future date I shall di¬ 
 vulge, to evacuate eight large cities near the City of Mexico, surround¬ 
 ing himself on three sides by enemies. 
 
 These promises were, without doubt, made in bad faith, and sole¬ 
 ly for the purpose of eradicating the iron man, Huerta. He could not 
 bo removed by threats nor by an attempt to cut him off from supplies 
 and money as Mr. Wilson had threatened, nor by force except through 
 actual intervention, so he was tricked into leaving through false pro¬ 
 mises. 
 
 Owing to Huerta’s retiring Mr. Wilson’s efforts were crowned with 
 success, and Villa and Carranza became all powerful and Carvajal 
 was forced to retire. Carranza became provisional President, but soon 
 the two thieves had a misunderstanding and each one selected territory 
 in which to carry on their nefarious schemes. 
 
 Since that time things have gone from bad to worse, and now the 
 most deplorable condition imaginable exists; no other country has 
 ever suffered as Mexico; 160,000 armed bandits and marauders have 
 been turned loose on the country; their first move was to disarm all 
 civilians, a house to house search being made over the entire country; 
 then all horses and saddles were seized. A decree was then issued that 
 all those possessing arms and ammunition failing to deliver them to the 
 nearest military chief within forty-eight hours would be summarily 
 executed without trial. All civilians disarmed, thereby placing them¬ 
 selves at the mercy of the lower element. Then hell broke loose. Both 
 factions cruelly, fiendishly, tortured then murdered those supposed to 
 have been friendly to the old regime. Doctors, lawyers, priests mer¬ 
 chants, who had apparently been neutral but unfortunately possessed 
 either money, lands or merchandise, were taken prisoners and com¬ 
 pelled to sweep the streets in the broiling sun, while the officers in 
 charge took their possessions and in many instances went to their 
 homes and violated their families. If a man rebelled against these 
 outrages he was shot. The churches were desecrated and used as bar¬ 
 racks, and in the convents not only the nuns and sisters of mercy 
 were outraged but also the young pupils. These are not isolated cases, 
 this condition existed wherever you found Carranza or Villa forces. 
 
 It has become a custom among these savages to give dances in the 
 name of the officer commanding the garrison; invitations would be 
 sent to the female members of the leading families and at the same 
 time a threat would be made that if they refused to attend the male 
 members of the family would pay the penalty. Thousands of the 
 better class of women and girls were forcibly assaulted at these dances. 
 
 I have personally seen these fiends torture their victims in a man¬ 
 ner that would have made an Appache Indian shudder at the thought 
 
16 
 
 THE EED BOOK 
 
 of. I have seen them saturate a man’s clothing with petroleum then 
 set him on fire. I have seen men with the soles of their feet pared to 
 the bone and forced to walk on cactus, then tied up and placed on an 
 ant hill to be slowly eaten by the ants. 
 
 I have seen hundreds hung and shot, and the crimes against wo¬ 
 mankind are so fiendish and repulsive they cannot be described. 
 
 Everybody was robbed, literally stripped of their all, and the 
 worst crime a man could be charged with was the possession of money, 
 and the female, virtue. 
 
 Since the Washington administration has supplied these bandits 
 with arms and ammunition almost 300 foreigners have been murdered 
 in cold blood, more than half of them Americans, to say nothing of 
 themore than 300 Chinese murdered in Torreon in one day. Only 
 in one case has an apology been made or indemnization paid, that of 
 Mr. John McManus, murdered by Zapata troops in Mexico City about 
 two months ago, $20,000 paid family. 
 
 All of us have been robbed, driven from our homes, and our prop¬ 
 erties are now in the hands of these renegades. We are unable to 
 defend ourselves as we have been disarmed and the United States con¬ 
 tinues openly to furnish our enemies all they want. 
 
 Has anything of the kind ever been done before in the history 
 of the world? A President who claims to be an advocate of peace, 
 a moral and cultured gentleman, openly rendering aid to notorious, 
 world-renowned criminals, knowing perfectly well as he does, that 
 neither of these bandit leaders have, or ever had, any intention of es¬ 
 tablishing a government in Mexico, and are devoting themselves entire¬ 
 ly to the exploitation of the peaceable people for their personal gain. 
 And the great American public is unconsciously a party to this; you 
 have been misled, misinformed, the facts have been suppressed. The 
 President, the Secretary of State and many of your Congressional Re¬ 
 presentatives knoiv these statements to be facts. 
 
 Ignorance is no excuse before the law, and as a nation you will 
 be held responsible by the civilized world for these crimes because it 
 is an admitted fact that your President and Secretary of State are en¬ 
 tirely and solely responsible for conditions in Mexico, owing to their 
 foolish interference in a question which was none of their concern. 
 
 That I am not alone in this opinion you will readily see by read¬ 
 ing the following editorials taken from the leading papers of the world: 
 
 From the Washington Pont'- 
 
 The people of the United States have, during the past ten months, 
 given to the President and his Secretary of State a most remarkable 
 proof of tlicir ct/iifidencc in their sincerity of purpose. The more k tnark- 
 able inasmuch as many of tliem have failed to see that the rights of 
 our citizens were as fully protected as desired, or that “the watching 
 and waiting” policy was either beneficial to iMexico, to the United 
 States, or fair to the citizens or subjects of foreign nations. 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 17 
 
 That it has not brought peace or happiness to the people of Mexico 
 must be admitted. 
 
 That it has been productive of immense losses to American, British, 
 German, French, and Spanish investors is apparent to all. 
 
 That it has advanced the peace interests of the world is exceedingly 
 doubtful. 
 
 That it was and is producing friction in our foreign relations 
 would seem to be as clear as diplomatic secrecy will permit the public 
 to judge. 
 
 From the New Orleans Picayune: 
 
 Strong as has been President Wilson’s policy with respect to mat¬ 
 ters of domestic concern, it must be admitted with regret that his atti¬ 
 tude toward Mexico has been extremely weak and vascilating. Amer¬ 
 icans have been told to leave the country, as their government either 
 could not or would not protect them. Foreigners, both Americans and 
 Europeans, have been maltreated and their property seized or pillaged, 
 yet nothing has been done other than the presentation of feeble protests. 
 
 As a result of this course foreign governments have lost all con¬ 
 fidence in our ability to control the Mexican situation, and as they 
 have no reason to expect anything from the revolutionists, they are 
 quietly financing ITuerta in the belief that he is the only man in Mexico 
 capable of maintaining at least a show of order. 
 
 From the San Francisco Argonaut: 
 
 That President Wilson still hopes for the establishment of peace 
 and order in Mexico in the spirit of her parchment constitution is 
 simply evidence of the failure of a man of academic mind to distin¬ 
 guish between fact and theory. So long as Mr. Wilson shall maintain his 
 present views, and his present course of action Mexico must suffer 
 under that combination of cruelties and terrors so forcibly described 
 in a letter from the City of IMexico printed in last week’s Argonaut. 
 One well-intentioned but unfortunately misinformed and curiously 
 stubborn man is practically holding Mexico prostrate to be scorched 
 and flayed. It is truly a terrible responsibility. 
 
 From the Boston Transcript: 
 
 We have tried ‘bvatchful waiting” only to abandon it in favor of 
 the even more mischievous policy of pouring oil on the flames of civil 
 war. Some of the bullets that pierced Benton’s body may have been 
 supplied to Villa from this country in consequence of the raising of 
 the embargo on arms. To ‘'watchful waiting” bloody blundering 
 has succeeded. 
 
 From the Boston Herald: 
 
 One way out of this calamitous course remains—willi honor. 
 
18 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 There is still a chance to avert war. It is to recognize Huerta, and 
 further than that to strengthen his hand. We should rerievr the em¬ 
 bargo on arms to the bandits. 
 
 It may be that this step would come too late, that our policy has 
 so weakened Huerta that he can no longer restore order. But he de¬ 
 serves the chance. He has clearly established his claim as de facto 
 ruler of IMexico. And until we have given him the opportunity we 
 are not justified in making the sacrifice that armed intervention would 
 entail. 
 
 From the IManchester Union: 
 
 Conditions south of the Rio Grande are certainly no better, and 
 probably worse to-day than they Avere at the beginning of the Wilson 
 administration-and Ideaven knoAvs they Avere bad enough then. The 
 policy of ‘Svatchful Avaiting” has been, to put it brutally, a policy of 
 idleness. 
 
 Huerta, in an intervicAv, declares that the present situation in Mex¬ 
 ico is due to the United States, and, in a sense, he is right. 
 
 From the Burlington Free Press: 
 
 Having failed to recognize the established government in the capi¬ 
 tal of Mexico, and thus Avaived the right to hold Huerta’s administra¬ 
 tion responsible for the protection of Americans in all Mexican ter¬ 
 ritory, the Wilson Administration seems to have made the further 
 mistake of recognizing in effect and aiding a rebel leader, in the person 
 of Axilla, even more bloodthirsty than Huerta Avas in connection with 
 the overthroAv of Aladero. 
 
 Here, too, the precedents are strongly against the Wilson Adminis¬ 
 tration, and in vieAV of Air. AVilson’s recent utterances in defense or 
 palliation of Axilla, Avho has killed Americans as Avell as British it is not 
 strange that Dr. Aloore declined to alloAV his prestige as an interna¬ 
 tional authority to suffer further from the smashing of precedents. 
 
 If President AYilson should undertake to folloAV the intervention 
 of AAdiich he has already been guilty and AA’hich Avas in reality an act 
 of AA^ar, by sending a military force into Alexican territory and thus 
 instituting armed inteiwention, he Avill find it difficult to vindicate 
 his course in the eyes of the nations as Avell as of the American people. 
 
 From the Brooklyn Eagle: 
 
 The policy of the administration, so far as it is generally under¬ 
 stood, contemplates the scheme of Alexico Avorking out her oavii des¬ 
 tiny as a result of her present internal Avarfare, so that constitutional 
 goATrnment Avill be restored, at least so far as it ever existed in the re¬ 
 public south of the Rio Grande. Those AAdio adhere to this policy, 
 hoAA’e\"er, say frankly they see no hope AA’hatever that Alexico, through 
 the agency of ATlla, Carranza, Zapata, or any of the other revolution- 
 
THE RED BOOK ' 
 
 19 
 
 ary and bandit leaders, can restore constitutional government. l\Iany 
 of them admit that Huerta might have done so, with the aid of the 
 United States; or at least might have succeeded in pacifying Mexico, 
 even if he only brought about a restoration of the practical despotism 
 that existed under Porfirio Diaz. 
 
 From the St. Johnsbury Caledonian: 
 
 Defeated in his whole programme to date. President Wilson should 
 adopt another and recognize the Plnerta government in Mexico the 
 same as he recognized the new revolutionay government in Peru. Such 
 a change in tactics may prevent a war with Mexico, and President 
 Wilson, if he desires to save the country from one of its most serious 
 blunders, will make it. The question now is not, is Huerta big enough 
 to control Mexico, but is President Wilson big enough to acknowledge 
 his mistake and save his country from the terrible misfortune it is now 
 facing? 
 
 From the New York Mail': 
 
 While the IVilson Goverment has recognized the brutal dictator¬ 
 ship of Yuan Shi-Kai in the pretended Chinese Republic, it has refused 
 to recognize the Huerta Government in JMexico, accepted by all other 
 important nations, and has plainly encouraged the murderous and 
 looting forces of the rebels, led by notorious and savage bandits, in a 
 hopeless and shameful chaos of destruction that means the complete 
 devastation of a rich and neighboring country or American armed in- 
 teiwention. 
 
 The dignity and authority of the United States as the protagonist 
 of the American republics has been openly insulted and mocked in 
 Mexico by the grafters of the South and the cutthroats of the North, 
 and our national prestige in Latin America has been seriously damaged, 
 
 INIeantime the Wilson administration has made the United States 
 responsible for Mexican conditions that mu.st go from bad to worse 
 until, apparently, the horrors and losses must end in bloody interven¬ 
 tion. 
 
 From the Sioux City Journal: 
 
 The weak point of the administration has been found in its fore¬ 
 ign policy. The Mexican situation has proved an unworkable puzzle. 
 There is a prevailing impression that President W^iLson and Secretary 
 Bryan have not made the most of their opportunities diplomatically. 
 
 The great European powers, following precedent wdiich repre¬ 
 sents demonstrated expediency, promptly recognized the Huerta Gov¬ 
 ernment as the de ja.cto Government. Mr. Bryan at once took 
 the role of a diplomatic white blackbird when he refused to recognize 
 that government or even to deal in regular form with it. The worst 
 of his demand that General Huerta abdicate was not its grotesqueness. 
 
20 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 It virtually invited all disaffected rebel and bandit elements in the 
 north and elsewhere to assert themselves. It crippled the Central Gov¬ 
 ernment by injuring its credit, which was otherwise sufficient to raise 
 ample funds in Europe. When bandit forces, thus encouraged and 
 energized, had coalesced, the removal of the embargo furnished them 
 with arms, ammunition and supplies of all kinds, for which they were 
 able to raise money by wholesale confiscation and robbery. 
 
 But right at this point startling outrages force upon the world s 
 attention the fact that the rebel government, both in its personnel and 
 in its methods of gaining and using power, is incomparably worse than 
 the worst that has been imputed to the Central Government, of which 
 General Huerta is still de facto head after a year of rule. Disavowing 
 intervention, we have thus in effect intervened against the^ actually 
 existent Central Government. Thereby we have paralyzed its power 
 and responsibility in northern Mexico, and yet no tolerable govern¬ 
 mental power or responsibility has been substituted for it there with 
 which we ourselves and other civilized nations can deal. At the same 
 time neither we ourselves step in nor permit other nations to step in 
 to vindicate foreign rights. Mr. Bryan simpl}" started wrong and has 
 been going wrong. 
 
 From the Louisville Courier-Journal: 
 
 War is what we shall get, sooner or later, for the folly of clinging 
 to the Monroe Doctrine and assuming police supervision of Latin 
 America in behalf of Christendom. President Wilson may succeed 
 in avoiding it this time, but war we shall have, sooner or later, in Mex¬ 
 ico or elsewhere in Latin America, and the harvest of blood and tears 
 will have been earned by the sowing of folly. 
 
 Surely Don Quixote, astride of Rozinante, with the barber s bowl 
 bn his head for a helmet, was never a more ridiculous figure than that 
 country cuts at the present juncture. 
 
 From the Hartford Courant: 
 
 By the simple recognition of the Huerta Government, which under 
 all the rules and practices of intelligent diplomacy is fully entitled to 
 recognition, there would be no need of sending any American army 
 into IMexico. President Wilson is not so stupid as not to see this. 
 President Wilson is a man of acute and most alert intelligence, and 
 he is not above learning by his own blunders, as is shown by his prompt¬ 
 ness in giving official recognition to the revolutionary governments 
 just set up in Peru and Hayti. 
 
 But he is morally obstinate—obstinate by nature and obstinate 
 by years of autocratic rule in the schoolroom; and in addition to this 
 he fears that his prestige, which has been carefully huilt up all throiigh 
 the country by his unlimited newspaper admirers, would be impaired 
 b}^ the frank confession that his much-vaunted Mexican policy has been 
 one continuous blunder from the outset. 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 21 
 
 The election of a new congress in November of this year, a piece 
 of work in which he has already taken the directing hand, also makes it 
 especially inopportune,from his party point of view, to admit a change of 
 mind in regard to our relations with Mexico; yet it is only by such a 
 change of mind and of policy, to which his own nature, habits, and 
 special political interests of the moment are strongly opposed, that he 
 can really and truly do the thing that is required in order to keep our 
 troops lint of INIexico. 
 
 This is why we say that President Wilson needs to begin all over 
 again in llio tro.ilment of Mexico. It has taken him a long time Lo find 
 out the kind of man with whom he has been sympathizing and upon 
 whom lie has been de])ending for the political regeneration oi that 
 country. Ide violated all the rules and usages governing such matters by 
 undertaking to say for IMexico what kind of a government Mexico should 
 have, and his undertaking has broken down. He can send American 
 troops into Mexico or he can give due recognition to the existing Huer¬ 
 ta government. There are the alternatives. But President Wilson 
 cannot truly be said to be ‘drying” to avert armed intervention in Mex¬ 
 ico unless he first tries the old and reputable and peaceful method of 
 recognizing and giving the moral support of the United States to the 
 de facto Government of that country. 
 
 From the Chicago Inter-Ocean: 
 
 There is no disguising the fact that Mr. Wilson’s “watchful wait- 
 mg” policy has proved a dismal failure. Good intentions remain the 
 only excuse for this refusal to accept accomplished facts when Madero 
 fell. 
 
 Mr. Moore wanted Huerta accepted as the de facto ruler of Mexico 
 not because he approved Huerta, but as the strongest man in sight, 
 and on the ground that the manner in which Mexicans see fit to change 
 their rulers is none of our business. It is, perhaps, still possible to 
 take that course. It is plain that Carranza and Villa will not do. 
 Huerta may be a poor stick from idealistic viewpoints, but what more 
 capable Mexican is in sight? Mr. Wilson has demanded and has been 
 given a free hand. His dealing with IMexico have brought the country 
 to the point where it may be compelled, against its will, to armed inter¬ 
 vention, that it may preserve its self-respect. lias President Wilson 
 the moral courage to change his policy and bring the nation out of the 
 difficult and dangerous position into which he has led it? 
 
 From the Detroit Free Press: 
 
 The nation stands on the brink of an imbroglio with the whole 
 or a part of Mexico. It is not the doing of the American people. It 
 is the result of a wholly unfeasible policy, persisted in against all logic—• 
 a policy which breaks every canon of tried diplomacy and common 
 sense. The nation has not desired war; it does not want it now. If 
 forced into a conflict it will make the fight because it finds itself in a 
 
22 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 position where no other course is compatible with honor and self-respect 
 and duty to citizens abroad. 
 
 From the New York World: ♦ 
 
 Notwithstanding our strong official opposition to Huerta, that has 
 prevented him from obtaining funds or augmenting his army, and 
 your repeated assertions that he was on liis last legs, he seems to have 
 proved that he is the strongest leader in Mexico to-day, and that, had 
 he been granted recognition in April last, his country would have been 
 peaceful long since, at least w'ould have been free from the armed 
 bands of such assassins and robbers as Villa, Castillo, Zapata, and others. 
 I do not mention Carranza, as he is apparently only a figurehead, with 
 sufficient sense to keep him from coming in contact with Villa. 
 
 It seems to me plain that those who have advocated recognition 
 for Huerta are not clamorous for war as you intimate, but firmly be¬ 
 lieve that such a step would have prevented any cause for intervention 
 by having brought peace to IMexico and saved thousands of livQS and 
 millions of dollars’ worth of property. Although our official treat¬ 
 ment of Huerta has been suclnas to perfectly warrant him in ignoring 
 completely any demands or requests made of him, he has invariably 
 given courteous attention to all representatives from our unofficial 
 cliarge d’affairs and acted promptly on all our complaints. 
 
 Kindly note this: If we do not recognize Huerta and assist him 
 in bringing his country out of anarchy (though very late for such a 
 step and now attended with much greater difficulties than at an earlier 
 date,) intervention must surely take place, for even .should we willing¬ 
 ly continue our ‘‘hvatchful waiting” and look on quietly at a terrible 
 state of affairs, other nations Avill not agree to hold aloof for a much 
 longer period. 
 
 Philadelphia Public Ledger: 
 
 AVe ought to reverse our action. AVe ought to redeem our obligation 
 without hesitation or quibble, an obligation which we have assumed, 
 and rightly as,sumed, but in the fulfillment of which we have been 
 strangely lacking. It makes no difference whether the Administra¬ 
 tion Ava.s right or wrong when its Mexican policy was adopted. The 
 large thing to do is the only thing we can afford to do, and largeness 
 in the circumstances consists in the capacity to adopt a programme 
 de novo, to sweep out of the way regard for petty consistency, to acknow¬ 
 ledge whatever errors there may have been in former policy, to break 
 the shackles of accepted precedent and move untrammeled toward a 
 complete solution of the problem. 
 
 1 hat is the largeness which the nation expects of the President. 
 Public opinion senses the imminent peril of intervention and the neces¬ 
 sity for action. It does not presume to dictate Avhat policy the Admi¬ 
 nistration should adopt, although the recommendatory attitude of the 
 Pi ess is almost unanimously in favor of a Pan-American concert but it 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 23 
 
 does insist that the pilot put his hands to the wheel and give positive 
 direction to a forward movement, that the fine skill which has guided 
 the process of the mpeal of the canal-tolls exemption be excercised now 
 in extricating the nation from the lamentable shallowness of purpose 
 into which it has been permitted to drift. 
 
 In letters to New York Her aid: 
 
 When an individual realizes he has made a mistake he will, if 
 he is big, acknowledge and correct it. Should not a nation be as big 
 as an individual? 
 
 President Wilson has withheld recognition from the only govern¬ 
 ment that exists in Mexico, believing the forces in opposition would be 
 able to accomplish Huerta’s early overthrow, and that in these forces 
 lay Mexico’s best hope of peace. 
 
 Events have proved the policy of the United States to be wrong. 
 Huerta, whose government is just as constitutional as that of Peru, 
 which the President hastened to recognize, has lasted for more than a 
 year. The “Constitutionalist” cause has produced nothing better than 
 a Axilla. 
 
 Hasn’t the time come for the President to realize and rectify his 
 mistake, not in the interest of Huerta, but as a right due to the Amer¬ 
 ican people? 
 
 Recognition of the Huerta government seems to me the only pos¬ 
 sible way for us to escape the armed intervention that neither the Pres¬ 
 ident nor anybody else in this country wants. 
 
 There is very much to commend in President Wilson’s address to 
 Congress yesterday. Who can question the wisdom of this: 
 
 “The large thing to do is the only thing we can afford to do, a 
 voluntary withdrawal from a position everywhere questioned.” 
 
 President Wilson may well ponder these words from his own 
 mouth. They apply directl}^ and forcefully to his own Mexican policy. 
 
 If he is able to do the “large thing” and voluntarily withdraw 
 from his mistaken attitude, which is responsible for all our troubles, 
 this nation may yet see a “way out” from its unfortunate Mexican 
 entanglements. I fear there is no such “way out” unless the President 
 does follow the excellent advice he yesterday gave to Congress. 
 
 In a letter to the New York Tribune: 
 
 There seem to be but two alternatives—immediate intervention or 
 immediate recognition of Huerta, far preferably the latter. The world 
 has always recognized that moral courage is far greater than physical 
 courage. Is President Wilson great enough and strong enough to say 
 to Hueila: “I have opposed you from the beginning because I thought 
 I was right and that you were wrong. I now realize that I have been 
 wrong, and I am going to give you a chance to prove that you are right 
 and can bring peace to Alexico. I am therefore willing to recognize 
 your government with the understanding that you will bring peace 
 
24 
 
 THE EED BOOK 
 
 to your country within the next three months. If you fail to accom¬ 
 plish this 1 shall recommend immediate intervention to Congress. The 
 present conditions cannot continue; they are intolerable.” If AVoodrow 
 Wilson is a big enough man to do this our people and the nations of 
 the world will acclaim him the greatest man in the world. I can see 
 no alternative. 
 
 In a letter to the Philadelphia Public Ledger: 
 
 The writer during his vacation in the past summer met some in¬ 
 telligent American people who had large property interests in Mexico, 
 and for his own enlightenment inquired as to their opinion relative 
 to conditions in that country. 
 
 They advised him that they thought the only salvation of Mexico 
 could come from within, and that Huerta, backed up by his government, 
 was the only person qualified to thorougly police the place. 
 
 That the only bar to such action on the part of Huerta was the 
 opposition stand taken by the Government of the United States. 
 
 That this Government stood alone among the nations in its Mex¬ 
 ican policy. 
 
 That recognition by this country of the Federal Government of 
 Mexico would enable the latter to borrow, probably in London, pos¬ 
 sibly in the United States, all the funds required to maintain order, 
 and to call a halt to the acts of outrageous brutality now being com¬ 
 mitted, and to the great loss of property belonging to American and 
 British subjects residing in jMexico. 
 
 In letters to the New York Sun: 
 
 If our President, who has proved himself in some ways in this first 
 year of his incumbency a very great President, could persuade himself 
 that the whole world is not in the wrong—that he is like the Irishman 
 who informed his drill sergeant who told him that he was out of step, 
 not at all, that he was in step, and that all the rast of the company were 
 out of step; if he could be made to believe that he and his friends 
 may possibly be wrong, since the whole world of Europe and America 
 thinks concerning the advisability of Huerta’s recognition exactly the 
 reverse of his thinking; if he could come out frankly and answer that 
 upon misinformation furnished him at the outset concerning General 
 Huerta’s resources and personality he declined to recognize him, but 
 that now he perceives his mistake and will recognize him—then the 
 President at one bound would become the most popular man in the 
 United States, war would be averted, and the whole problem solved. 
 
 It is the belief of those who have studied the situation and aie on 
 the ground that Huerta, if as well backed l)y this countrv as the so- 
 called Constitutionalists have been, would make good in short ord^r 
 and restore peace and j'U'osperity to distracted Alexico. 
 
 It has been said that most of Alexico is against Huerta. This is 
 eiioneous. If this were true, when the rebels attack a town they shouh] 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 25 
 
 be able to take it without much trouble, since the inhabitants of same 
 would attack the Federals from the rear. Whenever the rebels, or 
 bandits, assault a town, the inhabitants join in the defence of the town. 
 This is the most eloquent proof that Mexico, as a country, is in favor 
 of President Huerta. 
 
 From the foregoing it can be seen that Huerta, far from being a 
 traitor, is a great patriot, that he is the de facto and the de jure Pres¬ 
 ident of ]\Iexico, and that the Mexican people at large support him 
 heartily. The foreign powers, with the exception of this country, and 
 may be one or two of minor importance, recognizing these incontro¬ 
 vertible facts, have recognized Huerta as the de facto and the de jure 
 Provisional President of Mexico. The United States ought to follow 
 suit and vindicate herself by acknowledging her misconception of the 
 facts. This acknowledgment would have no savor of humiliation, for 
 “to err is human” and to make amends is manly and holy. This non¬ 
 recognition policy on the part of the Wilson Adminisration on the re¬ 
 ported ground that it would be immoral to grant recognition is tanta¬ 
 mount to saying that all the other governments that have recognized 
 Huerta are immoral, which would be a reflection on all the civilized 
 world. 
 
 In view of the above it is to be hoped that the American Govern¬ 
 ment will come to the conclusion which I stated above, namely, that 
 it has misconceived the facts, and that it must vindicate itself by re¬ 
 cognizing the Huerta Administration forthwith. 
 
 From the London Spectator: 
 
 We can see nothing but bitter and cruel mortification as the result 
 of Mr. Wilson’s policy of “watchful waiting,” while that policy means 
 watching and waiting on such fiendish villainies. So far the effects 
 of Mr. Wilson’s policy have been the very nemesis of pacifism. General 
 Fluerta, as the de facto ruler of Mexico, at least had a better chance 
 than any one else of producing order. But that was not enough for 
 Mr. Wilson. With admirable yet fatal motives, he looked for personal 
 perfection in a land where it does not exist, at all events in public life. 
 
 * By gradual stages he has been driven into a corner, and has at last 
 come to the point of recognizing anarchy in preference to recognizing 
 General Huerta. By a very different route from that of a professed 
 man of iron and blood, he has arrived for all practical purposes at a 
 purely cynical policy. He has removed the prohibition on the traffic 
 in arms across the United States frontier, and now looks on “watch¬ 
 fully” while American citizens and British subjects are killed and 
 trains are sent full tilt into burning tunnels. This terrible state of 
 affairs is the result of the primary error of supposing that you can 
 dictate to a proud and independen country, and at the same time 
 really respect its independence. “Things are what they are, and the 
 consequences Avill be what they will be. Why, then should we desire 
 to be deeeived?” The alternatives are to recognize whatever President 
 
26 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 has at the moment climbed to power, or to act as though INIexico were 
 no longer an independent country. One or the other it must be. The 
 latter policy has always meant a great campain and a military occupa¬ 
 tion, although JMr. Wilson has steadily refused to see wdiat he did not 
 wish to believe. 
 
 From the Economiste Francaise of Paris: 
 
 The United States have as President to-day a doctrinaire, very 
 eager for the people’s good. Mr. AVoodrow AYilson is a university 
 professor and the author of some interesting books. Tie consequently 
 has the advantages and disadvantages pertaining to a life long devoted 
 to learning and teaching. His mentality is elevated, but rigidly un- 
 adaptive; his honesty is above suspicion. He is, however, deficient in 
 experience. He considers himself called upon to regenerate the public 
 morals not only of tlie United States, but also of other countries. He 
 says lie will not permit Mexico to initiate such and such a candidate 
 for the presidency. But neither IMexico nor the nations of Europe can 
 possibly submit to these North American injunctions. Mexico is an 
 indejiendent state, and it is desirable she should remain so. 
 
 From the Novoyc Vremya of St. Peterburg: 
 
 The fact that all European, South American and Asiatic countries 
 have long recognized the Government of Huerta can be considered as 
 the best proof that Huerta has ably conducted the governmental affairs 
 of Mexico. Only the United Stales lias assumed a peculiar position. 
 AATiile refusing to recognize Huerta, it has until now confined itself 
 to the energitic support of the rebels concentrated in the north with 
 money, men, and ammunition. The Alessage of President AVilson 
 reveals the game of the United States. It not only demands that an 
 armistice should be concluded with the revolutionists, but even insists 
 categorically that Huerta should not be a candidate for president in the 
 coming election. It is not in vain that the AVestern European press 
 permitted themselves to express the supposition that the United States 
 openly take the side of JMexican anarchy. 
 
 From the Berliner Tagehlatt: 
 
 Every Mexican knows very well that the policy of the United 
 States in regard to Mexican affairs aims at establishing a protectorate, 
 more or less disguised, over their republic, because it separates the 
 United States from the partially subjugated republics situated north of 
 Panama. Huerta is not a particularly attractive individual, but it is 
 nevertheless true that this ^Tmmoral” man against whom the ex-professor 
 of Princeton contemplates the mobilization of an army is exactly the 
 man that Alexico at this juncture needs. He would have establislied the 
 order which has so long been disturbed if he had been pemittcd to do 
 so. The dictator is lully,aware, of. the ])oril to which he and bis 
 country arc exposed trom tlie United States. He has merely })ersis- 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 27 
 
 tently faced this peril without paying any attention to the clamor that 
 rises on the other side of the Rio Grande. Tliat he has so far snceed- 
 ed in his plans to a certain point is proved by the check administered 
 to the tragicomic mission of Lind. **** At present the submission of 
 Huerta is a thing inconceivable. It appears more probable that he will 
 let Uncle Sam bite the sour fruit of failure. 
 
 From the Boernsen Courier of Berlin: 
 
 The sly and undecided policy of the United States has made x\mer- 
 ican diplomacy the laughing stock of the world. The Government 
 at Washington is aiming in an underhand way at stripping Mexico of 
 her political independence, but above all at establishing in that country 
 the economic supremacy of the United States. If that Government 
 had desired nothing more than the re-establishment of peace it would 
 have recognized Huerta long ago. 
 
 From the Imparcial of iMadrid: 
 
 We have every reason for distrusting the United States. We have 
 already frequently pointed out how the Northern Republic is attempt¬ 
 ing to take Mexico in her net. 
 
 From the Prensa of Buenos a4ires: 
 
 All that Wilson has said in his address to the Congress at Wash¬ 
 ington has merely served to fortify the position taken by Huerta. The 
 policy of Mr. Wilson has only one tendency, and that is to unite the 
 Latin-American states, in spite of Uncle Sam, and make such a hostile 
 federation a reality instead of the political dream which it has hitherto 
 been. 
 
 From the Voz de Oriente of Lima: 
 
 Far from mending, the situation in Mexico is growing more com¬ 
 plicated and dangerous. This condition of things results in a large 
 measure from the attitude of the Government at Wa.drington in refus¬ 
 ing to recognize Huerta, while Wilson sympathizes with the rebels and 
 even gives them his support. This is the cause of the movement among 
 the students in Mexico City. These youngsters have made a grand mani¬ 
 festation against the Yankees before the palace of the Governor when 
 they carried flags bearing the inscription ‘‘Death to the Yankees”. The 
 irritation exhibited by the Mexicans is amply justified. 
 
 From the Prensa of Lima: 
 
 The President’s declaration that he could not recognize Huerta’s 
 Government because it was founded on treason is extremely interesting. 
 But nothing can justify the interv^ention of one state in the affairs of 
 another. At least there ought to be some explanation of the motive 
 which urges North America to favor, by opposing Huerta, the interests 
 
28 
 
 TPIE RED BOOK 
 
 of Carranza insurgents who have raised the ensign of an independent 
 Mexico. 
 
 From the Revista de Yucatan of Merida: 
 
 President Wilson and his Secretary of State appear each to be one 
 of three things. Either they are the romanticists of diplomacy, or the 
 ignoramuses of diplomacy, or the hypocrites of diplomacy. In which¬ 
 ever of these characters we regard them, they are hurtful to the country 
 they govern and to the nations with which they deal. For nothing 
 can be more pernicious in political life than romanticism which en¬ 
 genders your dreamers, your fanatics, extravagant theorists, and your 
 Utopians who do not see the reality of things, who do not perceive the 
 world in which they live and attempt to go beyond the law of nature. 
 The ignoramus is one destitute of science or letters. **** The hypocrite 
 is just what the word imports—he is a man who blazons abroad as his 
 own the virtues he does not possess. 
 
 From El Imparcial (anti-Huerta) of Mexico: 
 
 It is difficult to believe that the Yankee Government is authoriz¬ 
 ing the sale of arms to the bandits of Villa, Avho pillage, burn, and 
 murder throughout the country. How can the rulers of a cultivated 
 people under guidance of a wilful and obstinate leader, suffer them¬ 
 selves to be guilty of complicity with such a band of plunderers? It 
 once appeared impossible that President Wilson should be a man desti¬ 
 tute alike of conscience and a sense of shame. If the American people 
 approve of this astounding measure taken by their President, they will 
 deserve the contempt of all honorable nations. 
 
 From the Pais (pro-Huerta) of Mexico: 
 
 The only thing which President AVilson will have done is to bring 
 into greater prominence the personality of Huerta, who, thanks to the 
 intrigues of the North Americans, represents to-day upon our new 
 continent the soul of the Latin race. 
 
 Feeling certain that you are convinced that I am not alone in 
 my opinions after reading this mass of editorials and also that Mr. 
 AVilson has lost that generous support he had during the first year or 
 more ot office and that all intelligent thinking men and women now 
 concede that his foreign policy regarding Alexico was a blunder from 
 beginning to end I shall continue: 
 
 Alost of the loyal and educated class of Alexicans have been driven 
 from their country and their properties confiscated. Those still re¬ 
 maining are at the mercy of the bandits. 
 
 To attempt a ]) 0 ])ular election m Alexico at thi^ ti:vic would 1)0 a 
 farce. There never has been a popular election held in Alexico in il.s 
 history. 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 29 
 
 To attempt to establish a democratic form of government now is an 
 impossibility. 
 
 The only possible form of government in Mexico for some years 
 to come is a benign dictatorship such as existed mider Gen. Porfirio 
 Diaz, and the sooner lh*esident Wilson convinces himself of this fact 
 the better for the American people. 
 
 Mr. Whlson has only one legitimate move to make at this time, 
 that is wipe his Mexican slate clean, forget all that has been done, and 
 commence all over. But in doing so he must forget his ideals and re¬ 
 member that a government in Mexico according to his ideas is at this 
 time utterly imi30ssible. lie must at once withdraw all moral or 
 ])hysical support from the criminal element represented by Caranza and 
 \hlla, whom he knows most positively are neither capable nor desirous 
 of restoring peace; he also knows they will continue in a state of anarchy 
 just as long as there is a city, home or ranch to be looted at a profit 
 or a virtuous woman in the country; he knows he will not be allowed to 
 recognize either of these factions even if they did, apparently, restore 
 peace, either by his own people or other nations, owing to the fact that 
 all outrages and crimes against us have been committed by the forces 
 under their control. Neither would the better element of Mexicans 
 accept this. If Caranza or Villa were to be recognized by this Govern¬ 
 ment it would be the signal for a new uprising, as the Mexican nation 
 is not going to submit to Mr. Wilson’s forcing upon them as rulers 
 either of these men. 
 
 W^ould you allow Great Britain to force you to accept the negroes 
 as your rulers? You say no. Then how can you expect Mexico to do 
 so? The comparison is all in favor of the negro, for these men are crimi¬ 
 nals. 
 
 There is only^ one factor in this question, there has only been one—■ 
 W^oodrow Wilson. He can give Mexico peace or he can continue the 
 anarchy, and the question is up to him. 
 
 There is only one method of restoring peace and establishing a 
 government such as existed before in INIexico, and that method is 
 through FORCE. This is not a question for further American 
 interference; it is one which must be settled by the Mexicans themselves, 
 This can be done easily and quickly if IMr. Whlson complies with his 
 sworn duty to his own people and his obligation before the world. His 
 duty is to withdraw absolutely from the postition he has maintained 
 to date withdrawing all support from Carranza and Villa and throwing 
 down the bars to all Mexicans. 
 
 A rich country with a population of sixteen millions of people is 
 in the grip of one hundred and sixty thousand of bandits who got con¬ 
 trol of the country through the active support and assistance of Presi¬ 
 dent W^ilson. Owing to this same fact the l;etter element were com¬ 
 pelled to leave the country. 
 
 Mr. Wilson has allowed his proteges two years almost to make a 
 
30 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 showing, and they have, a record written in blood. The better element 
 are determined to get back to their country and drive these men out, 
 and ]\lr. AVilson knows it. But what does Mr. Wilson do? Assist these 
 good people to get back their own? No, he still continues to support 
 the bandits and persecutes the better element. He allows Carranza and 
 Villa to buy military equipment of all kinds in this country, but just as 
 soon as any of the decent Mexicans even approach the borders of Slexico 
 along the Bio Grande he has then arrested for breach of neutrality. Is 
 it not ridiculous? Breach of neutrality with a country without a sem¬ 
 blance of a government and who have proven on numerous occasions 
 that they were anything but friendly. 
 
 As I said, arrested on a trumped up charge, bailed out 
 and immediately re-arrested on the same charge. IMr. 
 Wilson is .‘-imply continuing his petty persecution. He persecuted 
 Huerta while President, he is persecuting him now, simply because he 
 knows that Huerta in the choice of his people as well as the foreigners 
 residents of IMexico and that his people are rallying about him and de¬ 
 manding that he restore to them their country. The American public 
 must see the injustice, the dishonor to themselves through these tactics. 
 
 If Mr. Wilson declared a policy of neutrality in the spirit regarding 
 IMexico he knows that a strong man would lead the decent jDeople to 
 victory in IMexico in a very short time. 
 
 The solution of the problem is simple. Allow the decent people 
 to arm themselves with the same freedom you do the bandits, and I as¬ 
 sure you that a strong, capable leader will spring up and lead them to 
 victory and restore order in the country in less than six months. Your 
 alternative is to continue on the lines you have followed to date and 
 eventually send your soldiers to their doom through your obstinacy. 
 
 I claim that Mr. Wilson has assumed grave moral responsibility 
 for most of the outrages committed in Mexico during the past two 
 years, and for the following reasons: 
 
 Eefusal to recognize the only legal executive of Mexico. 
 
 Cutting off of the latter from money and arms in this country and 
 the cowardly attempt to stop the shipment on the Ypiranga. 
 
 Declaration of personal hostility toward Huerta through the block¬ 
 ading of Veracruz, which was done with the exclusive object of cutting 
 him off from supplies and lowering his prestige with his people. 
 
 As a consequence of the above the flocking of the criminally in¬ 
 clined to the .Mandards of Carranza and ATlla. 
 
 The supplying of arms and ammunition to the two last named 
 over the American frontier during the time the embargo was on and 
 later the raising of the embargo. 
 
 Through this active support from the American government Car¬ 
 ranza and Villa were enabled to arm the criminal element; that through 
 this assistance they attained power sufficient to disarm by force the 
 civilians of the country thereby placing themselves at the mercy of 
 those in poweir. 
 
THE RED BOOK 
 
 31 
 
 That as a consequence of fnrnisliing them with arms and ammuni¬ 
 tion as well as moral support thousancls of murders were committed, 
 women ^dolated, and more than a billion dollars worth of property 
 destroyed. 
 
 That Mr. Wilson knew from the beginning the characters of the 
 men with whom he was dealing, thereby making him responsible. He 
 could not help knowing. Every newspaper in the land was telling 
 him. Every foreigner from IMexico was shouting it. It was public 
 and nototrions. He cannot deny that he knew then and knows bet¬ 
 ter now. 
 
 If 160,000 anarchists broke loose in New York and commenced 
 the wholesale murder of peacable citizens, outraging of women, burn¬ 
 ing and looting and iNIr. Wilson ordered out the militia to assist the 
 anarchists as against the decent law abiding citizens his moral re- 
 sponsibilty could be no greater than it now is in Mexico. 
 
 ■'riie title of this article should be the; C. C. C’s, and I get it from 
 the fact that I believe it to be Cruel, Cowardly, Criminal, to supply the 
 Carranza-Villa factions with arms and ammunition which we positive¬ 
 ly know are to be dedicated to the slaughter of unarmed innocents now 
 and at a later date to be turned on our own troops if our present policy 
 is pursued. 
 
 You all know that Public Opinion in this great country is what 
 moves the man in the chair. If I have made a case and you believe 
 the worthy Mexicans deserve a chance, to say nothing of your seventy 
 thousand brothers and sisters who have left their all in that country, I 
 would respectfully request that you petition the Representative of 
 your respective district to take such action as he may deem prudent to 
 the end that justice may be done. By doing so you will be assisting 
 individual!}’' and collectively every decent inhabitant of Mexico, and at 
 the same time avoiding a war with Mexico which may cost 3 mu your 
 own life or that of a son or brother. 
 
 Are you going to stand by and see the most ruthless band of cut¬ 
 throats ever collected in the history of the world continue to murder 
 American and foreign subjects, violate females, destroy property and 
 desecrate the churches wuthout a protest? If you agree that the pre¬ 
 sent Administration is responsible for this condition I beg of you to 
 lend your assistance to the end that justice may be done, the wrong 
 righted as far as possible, and this country restored to the position of 
 dignity and respect that w'e previously occupied and commanded as 
 a nation before the world 
 
 On the first day of your second year of office, Mr. Wilson, you 
 said to the Congress of the United States: 
 
 ‘Yhe large thing to do is the only thing to do—a voluntary with¬ 
 drawal from a position everywhere questioned and misunderstood. 
 V\ G ought to reverse our action Avithout raising the question whether 
 
32 
 
 THE RED BOOK 
 
 we were right or wrong, and so once more deserve our reputation for 
 generosity and the redemption of every obligation without quibble or 
 hesitation.” 
 
 You was then referring to your Mexican policy, Mr. Wilson. 
 
 Will you reverse your action. If you do the cowards now in the 
 fiield will take to the high timber and Mexico’s atmosphere will soon 
 clear and you will have removed a truly terrible responsibility from 
 your shoulders with respect to the future. 
 
 On the day this pamphlet went to press it seems that this govern¬ 
 ment has decided to recognize Carranza, jf this is done it will be the 
 third grave error committed regarding Mexico. There will immediate¬ 
 ly be uprisings against him headed by his own officers. And how 
 about the one million decent Mexicans who have been driven from the 
 country by him and whose lives would be the forfeit if they returned 
 to their country wdiile he was in office? Do you think they could ac¬ 
 cept this solution? They must be taken into consideration and given 
 a voice in whatever settlement is proposed. As yet they have not been 
 considered, on the contrary have been persistently discriminated against 
 by our government, and until allowed a voice in the matter there can 
 be no solution pointing to permanent peace. You cannot expatriate 
 a million people who represent the legitimate rulers of a country and 
 expect them to accept it; nor will they accept expatriation; nor will 
 they commit suicide by returning to Mexico while Carranza is in power, 
 for they know full well he would murder them in spite of any promises 
 he might make in order to get recognition. He does not know the 
 meaning of the word amnesty, and if recoguized it will mean a con¬ 
 tinuance of the policy of pouring oil on the flames and a continuance 
 of anarchy. 
 
 ARTESIAN PFlvIT. SAN ANTONIO