File No. 1203.
I beg to call especial attention of the department to the marked
paragraphs on page 1 of the translation of the message, entitled
“Relations with the United States,” and “Labor Troubles,” and to that on
page 2, entitled “Law in Railway Accidents.” I have, etc.,
[Inclosure.—Extracts.]
[From The Mexican Herald,
Mexico City, September 17,
1907.]
MEDIATION IN CENTRAL AMERICA.
Fearing that at any moment a war might break out among some of the
Central American Republics, and remembering the satisfactory result
of the good offices exerted by me, in concert with President
Roosevelt, to bring to an end a former conflict between two of the
nations in question, I deemed it expedient to ask Mr. Roosevelt, who
has shown a willingness to act in concert with me with respect to
Central America, whether he was disposed to do so on this occasion.
As the answer was in the affirmative and couched in the most
friendly terms, the two of us simultaneously sent telegrams to the
five presidents of Central America, who immediately answered,
agreeing to the assembling of a conference to adjust the differences
of the Republics alluded to, and for which the arrangements will be
forthwith worked out. In the meantime, it seems that, for the time
being at any rate, the menace of a devastating and sanguinary war in
Central America has been averted.
[Page 843]
relations with the united
states.
It is gratifying to me to inform you that the various controversies
which naturally arise between neighboring nations like Mexico and
the United States of America have been adjusted of late in a spirit
of genuine harmony and good will on the part of both Governments,
demonstrating the stability and cordiality of the relations between
the two countries.
conventions concluded at rio
janeiro.
The Executive submitted to the Senate, during the last period of its
sessions, a convention signed at the third international conference
of American States at Rio Janeiro last year, providing for the
creation of an international commission of jurists composed of one
representative for each of the signatory States, to draft proposals
for codes of private and public international law which shall
regulate the relations of the nations of America with one another.
The convention in question, after being approved by the Senate, was
ratified by the Executive and was in due course promulgated in the
Diario Official with a view to its observance.
During the present period of sessions two other conventions,
emanating from that noted conference and relating to matters of
general importance to the nations of America, will be submitted to
the Senate. One of those conventions renews for five years the
treaty in regard to the pecuniary claims and damages, signed at the
Second International Conference of American States held in this
capital. The other aims at fixing the status of persons who, having
become naturalized in another country, return to that of their birth
to reside. The object of both conventions is to obviate friction
among the signatory States.
labor troubles.
The movements of labor, to which I have referred in previous
messages, have not ceased altogether, but the demonstrations have
diminished considerably both in frequency and intensity, and those
that have occurred in recent months were of a minor character and of
short duration, so that in general there was no occasion for the
authorities to act in order to put a stop to them or to prevent
perturbations of public order.
law in railway accidents.
The application of the old federal legislation in cases of railway
accidents has always been attended with serious drawbacks which the
Executive has endeavored to obviate by means of administrative
enactments, which aim at removing those drawbacks compatibly with
the due observance of legal precepts and without impairment of
judicial powers. For this object the circulars issued on various
occasions have been collected in order to be sent in a body to the
federal judges, and judges acting as such, with a view to their
punctual and invariable observance.
