812.00/15751½
President Wilson to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: This message puzzled me a little. Do you think it wise to put Villa in the way of getting money just at the moment when he is apparently weakest and on the verge of collapse? What will be gained by that, if, should he be left alone, he may be eliminated by the force of events?
Reading some of the flimsy that came to-day leads me to ask, also, Are you sure that he has in fact been doing all the lawless things he is accused of having done? Does he not seem to have paid for what he seized?
Faithfully Yours,