Take Grave View Of Huerta Note.

New York Times 100 years ago today, August 8, 1913:
Washington Officials Feel Much Depends on Lind's Reception in Mexico.
CRISIS TALK IN SENATE
More Serious Than Cuban Affair, Says Bacon, Defending the President
MIGHT DEPORT THE ENVOY
Clark of Wyoming Assails Administration's Secrecy — Lind Sails from Galveston.
Special to The New York Times.
    WASHINGTON, Aug. 7.— That the Mexican situation is serious, even critical, is admitted in the highest official circles. This admission has an added significance when considered in the light of the policy of secrecy that the Government is maintaining. The refusal of president Wilson to take Senators and Representatives into his confidence came in for criticism in the Senate to-day. There is a manifest disposition to complain over what are regarded as star-chamber methods in dealing with an affair of such momentous importance.
    A basis for bringing matters to a crisis is afforded in the notice served on the American Embassy in Mexico City last night by the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs that "if Mr. Lind does not bring credentials in due form, together with recognition of the Government of Mexico, his presence in this country will not be desirable."
    That, apparently, is a distinct threat to order Mr. Lind out of Mexico, an act that might pave the way for reprisals by this Government. Washington's attitude is that there is no necessity for anybody connected with the Huerta Administration to receive Mr. Lind, because he is not accredited to anybody. This calm view, however, does not meet the defiant stipulation of Huerta, according to opinion in Congress.
    There has been some talk in Washington that Huerta might go so far as to apply to Mr. Lind the provisions of Article 33 of the Mexican Constitution, which enables the Government to deport "undesirable foreigners."
    Opinions along this line have come from men acquainted with Huerta's character and the situation in Mexico City. Whether they have had any intimation that Huerta contemplated deporting Mr. Lind has not been ascertained. However, the language of the notice served on the American Embassy bears a striking similarity to the salient phrase of that article, and for that reason is doubly significant.

Hope at the White House.
    High officials of the Administration to-day were optimistic of a peaceable solution of Mexico's troubles in spite of their admission that the present situation was grave. To their way of thinking the President had a perfect right to send a private citizen of the United States to act as advisor to Nelson O'Shaughnessy, the American Chargé d'Affaires in Mexico City. Mr. Lind has no official status, they suggest, and he does not need any credentials. Whatever is done by the embassy in an official way will be done by Mr. O'Shaughnessy and not by Mr. Lind. Therefore, it is argued, why should there be any objection to the part Mr. Lind is to play?
    It is realized here, however, that Huerta sees Mr. Lind's mission in another light. To Huerta's view he is to use his influence among Mexicans and foreigners to bring about the elimination of Huerta as an incident of his effort to obtain a cessation of hostilities. That such an attitude on the part of an alien without official status will not be tolerated by Huerta does not create surprise among those who know something of Mexico's President.
    It also is asserted that if a diplomatic representative should pursue such a course he probably would receive his passports.
    Mr. Lind, officials say, not only is without credentials to any official authority in Mexico, but he does not bear any "message" to President Huerta. Further than that and the explanation that Mr. Lind will be the advisor of the American Embassy, nothing of an authoritative nature concerning his status is forthcoming from the Administration and there is absolute official secrecy as to the character and scope of his mission. There are semi-official hints, however, that the statement of the programme entrusted to Mr. Lind is substantially as outlined in a Washington dispatch in The New York Times on Tuesday.

Why Huerta Is Angry.
    The program as understood here contemplates an agreement for the cessation of hostilities pending a constitutional election for President. The voluntary retirement of President Huerta and the installation of a provisional President until the constitutional government is installed. There has been enough said by officials to show that a refusal to recognize Huerta is a cardinal principle of the plan. It is this feature that has offended Huerta. It is regarded as responsible for his intimation that Mr. Lind's presence in Mexico will be undesirable.
    To what extent, if at all, the notice served on the American Chargé d'Affaires last night with reference to Mr. Lind's status will influence the Administration to modify the instructions to Mr. Lind cannot be ascertained because of the policy of secrecy about which open complaint was made in the Senate to-day.
    There is a feeling here that the threatened fire will burst into an uncontrollable blaze if the stand that Huerta has taken does not receive some consideration. All these things go to show that as far as it affects the relations between Mexico and the United States the situation is critical.
    What is feared most by members of Congress is that Mr. Lind's presence in Mexico City may cause anti-American demonstrations that will rouse popular feeling in this country and cause a widespread demand that the Mexican troubles be brought to an end. Administration officials are inclined to take the view that Senator Clark of Wyoming and other Republicans in Congress are actuated by partisan motives in trying to force the issue involved in the Mexican situation. This is the main reason in justification of the Administration's refusal to consult; the Republicans with regard to the steps now under way to bring order out of the chaos south of the Rio Grande.
    William C. Lyons of Denver, who has been in Washington trying to obtain an appointment to the Consular Service, has been designated to go to Mexico City in connection with the mission of Mr. Lind. In what capacity he has been chosen is not disclosed. Mr. Lyons is a Democratic leader in Denver. He does not speak Spanish and has had no experience in diplomacy. Secretary Bryan made the choice. Mr. Lyons 'will go to Denver to-morrow and proceed thence to Mexico City.

Gloomy View In Senate.
    The tangled relations of the United States and Mexico were the subject of debate in the Senate to-day when friends of the Administration as well as its critics, admitted that ex-Gov. Lind's mission practically was hopeless.
    The debate arose over the resolution of Senator Clark of Wyoming, directing the Committee on Foreign Relations to investigate and report to the Senate conditions in Mexico, and recommendations for their betterment. It was in his effort to stave off a vote on the resolution that Chairman Bacon, who all along had stood by the President, expressed his doubts of Mr. Lind's success. In the end, after over an hour's debate, the resolution was displaced by the Tariff bill, and went to the calendar, to be taken up only by an affirmative vote of the Senate.
    Mr. Bacon had supported the President's policy of cautious delay with the utmost loyalty, and the dark picture he drew of what might be expected to follow Mr. Lind's failure, made a profound impression upon the Senate. He already had intimated that little was to be expected from the mediatory endeavors of the President's confidential adviser at the American Embassy at Mexico City, when the telegram addressed by the Mexican Foreign Office to the American Department of State, asserting that unless Mr. Lind brought credentials and recognition of the provisional Government, his presence would be undesirable.
    Mr. Lind carries no credentials, and President Wilson has made it plain that under no circumstances will he recognize Gen. Huerta's rule. These facts were in the minds of Senators when Mexico's message was read.
    One of the most interesting suggestions in Mr. Bacon's presentation or the Administration's side of the question was that President Wilson's primary purpose in sending Mr. Lind to Mexico was not to accomplish peace, but to prove to the world that the United States desired peace. Mr. Bacon made no attempt to deny the delicacy of Mr. Lind's mission, but the mere fact that he had been sent on an errand of peace, the Senator said, might prove of great moral value to the United States should stronger tactics become necessary.
    Oddly enough Mr. Bacon's most open intimation that armed intervention hung in the balance was conveyed in his argument to the Senate that there was a chance that Mr. Lind might succeed. That intimation, came when he said that Gen. Huerta's refusal to receive Mr. Lind might have been issued in a moment of irritation. A different attitude might be found, he said, by the time Mr. Lind reached the City of Mexico and the danger of rejecting his proposals, in which all civilized countries support the United States, was brought home to the Mexican officials.
    The debate began as soon as Senator Bacon asked that Mr. Clark's resolution be referred to his committee.
    "Ordinarily," said Mr. Clark, "I would be guided by the wisdom and long experience of the Senator from Georgia, (Mr. Bacon.) But I cannot, in view of existing conditions, consent to his suggestion. The Senate for months, yes, for years, has been trying to get light on the Mexican situation.
    "The President may have a policy, but we don't know what it is. He is now sending his third personal representative to Mexico. Lives are being lost and nothing is being done. This resolution should not be referred. We should investigate for our own part as the Administration has investigated. We need the information that has not been given to us. If we had had this information several months ago, many Americans who are now dead in Mexico would be alive. Nothing is more important than the protection of our citizens. Yet no one in Mexico is so poor as to claim allegiance to the United States. We have instead the humiliating reflection that American citizens are appealing to foreign embassies for protection."

Bacon Counsels Caution.
    "I heartily agree with the Senator," replied Mr. Bacon, "that nothing more important is before the Senate and the attention of the American people. But if that is true, there is no higher duty on us than to approach the subject with the utmost gravity.
    "The Senate is not in the dark as to what is going on. We know what is being done. We stand in the face of an unspeakable danger. Our desire is that peace be restored in Mexico and that persons and property be safeguarded.
    "The President is seeking the best results through peaceful means. That much is a known fact, not through irresponsible newspaper paragraphs, but by the official announcement of the Secretary of State for the President that the United States has formulated a plan to accomplish these ends by peace and is now trying to put the plan into execution.
    "Senators may say the plan will not succeed. Every one recognizes that the situation is one of great difficulty. And every one recognizes that in a situation of extreme difficulty, there is no certainty of success. But every chance, no matter how small, should have our best efforts instead of being repudiated in advance. The President has openly sent his personal representative in the hope of bringing about peaceful results."
    "Hasn't the Senator received a copy of the telegram from the Mexican Minister of Foreign Affairs?" interrupted Mr. Fall.
    "I know to what the Senator refers," replied Mr. Bacon.
    Mr. Fall then read the telegram, which Mr. Bacon admitted he had received from private sources.
    "I might have come to that myself," went on Mr. Bacon, "and to the suggestion that the chance of success is small. But this answer from the de facto Government should not be considered until it is put into effect.

Nations Will Back America.
    "When Mr. Lind reaches Mexico, the reply may be different. The situation may have changed. And with the recognition of the danger of a failure of his mission, with a recognition that in what the Government of the United States has undertaken — to aid a sister republic in the restoration of order — every civilized country of the world backs up the United States, it is not to be assumed that Mexico will reject our proposals. This possibility is not weakened by any message that may have been sent to us in a moment of heat and irritation.
    "The situation now before us is infinitely greater than what preceded the Spanish war. Our intervention in Cuba was a tempest in a teapot in comparison with what would be necessary to restore order and maintain it, as we would have to, for a generation or two. The President before this unspeakable emergency, in good faith and as a man of integrity, has undertaken a policy, and we should not adopt a resolution based on an assumption of its failure. There are many things it is difficult to refrain from saying on this matter, but I do refrain."

Smith Talks of Lobby.
    Mr. Smith of Michigan then charged that the President had been guided by a lobby from Mexico rather than by official advices.
    "The President may be misled as well as others," said Mr. Smith. "He may have misinformation. So far things have gone on in a way to bring no credit to this country. There has been nothing that measures up to the dignity and importance of this country in the Western world.
    Before the debate closed Mr. Clark denied any intention of affronting the President, but the situation, he said, was bigger than the President or any other citizen. The Senate, he said, needed information and he asked that his resolution go over until to-morrow without prejudice. At the Suggestion of Senator Hoke Smith, however, the resolution was forced to the foot of the calendar.