But we cannot ourselves profess to see that there is
any sign of improvement in the Mexican tangle. At present the prospect is that there will be something very much like an exchange of courtesies between the United States and the man whom Mr. Wilson has persistently refused to recognize and has denounced as a bloodstained usurper. In Mr. Wilson's published statement on the situation there was a catalogue of minor affronts offered to the United States by General Huerta. There was no mention of the atrocities— of which the murder of Mr. Benton was only one—com- mitted by the so-called Constitutionalists. Yet Mr. Wilson, in effect, "recognizes " these trebly bloodstained brigands, and, by removing the embargo on the traffic in arms, has been aiding them against General Huerta. From any point of view, it seems that less trouble will follow in the long run from armed inter- vention than from a continued policy of watchful waiting. Suppose that Mr. Wilson's policy superficially succeeds. Huerta will be "eliminated," and the Constitutionalists will rule the greater part of Mexico in his stead. Perhaps General Carranza or General Villa will be a candidate for the Presidency. Can one possibly contemplate such a result as better than an American invasion of Mexico P
