No. 831.
Mr. Romero to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, October 22, 1887. (Received October 24.)
Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to inform you that I have received instructions from my Government to inform that of the United States that the inhabitants of the district of Altar, Sonora, have petitioned the governor of the State with regard to a decree of the governor of the Territory of Arizona, issued the 18th of August last, which establishes a quarantine of ninety days for the cattle introduced into the said Territory coming from Europe or Mexico, basing his decree on the ground that such cattle are diseased and calculated to spread disease among the cattle of Arizona without stating the disease which they are suffering from.
As this quarantine is equivalent to a prohibition of the importation of Mexican cattle into the United States; as according to information furnished by the local Mexican officials the cattle of Sonora are not attacked by any disease at all, either contagious or otherwise; as there are not imported into the Territory of Arizona any European cattle, but only those of Sonora, the inhabitants of that State considered that the decree of the governor of Arizona had no other object than to prohibit the importation of Mexican cattle so that the herdsmen of that Territory may have the monopoly of that article, and that the form of quarantine was given to the prohibition in order not to make it appear an act unfriendly to a neighboring and friendly nation.
For this reason Mr. Mariscal has instructed me to state to you that as, according to reliable information received by the Mexican Government, no epidemic whatever exists in the cattle of our country, the quarantine of ninety days established by the governor of Arizona, although it likewise includes cattle coming from Europe, appears to have for its exclusive object to prevent importing into the Territory of Arizona those of the State of Sonora, which can not fail to be troublesome from the disturbance of the good relations of friendship and commerce between the two nations.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,