not closed against the resumption, either upon the initiative of Mexico
or upon our own, of the effort to bring order out of the confusion by
friendly coöperative action, should fortunate occasion offer.

While we wait the contest of the rival forces will undoubtedly for a
little while be sharper than ever, just because it will be plain that an
end must be made of the existing situation, and that very promptly; and
with the increased activity of the contending factions will come, it is
to be feared, increased danger to the non-combatants in Mexico as well
as to those actually in the field of battle. The position of outsiders
is always particularly trying and full of hazard where there is civil
strife and a whole country is upset. We should earnestly urge all
Americans to leave Mexico at once, and should assist them to get away in
every way possible--not because we would mean to slacken in the least
our efforts to safeguard their lives and their interests, but because it
is imperative that they should take no unnecessary risks when it is
physically possible for them to leave the country. We should let every
one who assumes to exercise authority in any part of Mexico know in the
most unequivocal way that we shall vigilantly watch the fortunes of
those Americans who cannot get away, and shall hold those responsible
for their sufferings and losses to a definite reckoning. That can be and
will be made plain beyond the possibility of a misunderstanding.

For the rest, I deem it my duty to exercise the authority conferred upon
me by the law of March 14, 1912, to see to it that neither side to the
struggle now going on in Mexico receive any assistance from this side
the border. I shall follow the best practice of nations in the matter of
neutrality by forbidding the exportation of arms or munitions of war of
any kind from the United States to any part of the Republic of Mexico--a
policy suggested by several interesting precedents and certainly