The Plot Against Mexico

the interventionists, although important because of great wealth and powerful political influence, number less than 2,000, while the people who would bear the expense, the brunt of the fighting, and the crime of war for conquest against a small nation, exceed 100,000,000. Most of the interventionists have never been in Mexico, but have financial interests there in oil, mines, or ranches. This is the explanation of the difference between us. I have been in Mexico, and I have no financial interests there. When in Mexico I found no difficulty in obeying the laws of the country, and it seems to me that I would have been bound by them, if I had been the owner of an oil well. Perhaps great wealth modifies one's point of view. It seems to have had that effect in anarchistic Tampico. But since the Mexican problem is one of our making, it ought to interest every citizen. Let us try to see it, therefore, as loyal Americans, fairly, squarely, and consider the possible solutions, of which I offer three. The past of Mexico belongs to Porfirio Diaz. An Indian soldier, he grew in greatness almost to three score and ten, and until he became senile, the country grew with him. Before him there had been heroic patriots, wise theorists, far-sighted statesmen, but from the time of Montezuma, none save he alone was able to unite and direct the heterogeneous elements of the Mexican population in such a way as to give Mexico an honoured place among the nations. No viceroy was able...