File No. 283/75–78.
The Secretary of
State to the Mexican
Ambassador.
Department of State,
Washington, May 8,
1907.
No. 36.]
Excellency: Referring to the department’s
note No. 35, of the 7th instant, I have the honor to inclose
herewith for your information an extract from a letter, dated the
26th ultimo, from the Acting
[Page 851]
Attorney-General, and a copy of its inclosures and an extract
from another,a
showing the result of an investigation that has been made by
direction of the Attorney-General of the alleged smuggling of
firearms and ammunition into Mexico from Arizona, for the use of the
Yaqui Indians.
At the same time the Acting Attorney-General sent to this department
a copy of a letter addressed to an agent of the Department of
Justice by an American citizen long resident in Mexico, in which the
writer expresses his opinion regarding the agencies employed in
Mexico to prevent firearms and ammunition from reaching the Yaquis.
An extract from that letter is herewith inclosed; but the name of
the writer is withheld, as the letter was written in confidence to
the agent above mentioned of the Department of Justice.
Accept, etc.,
[Inclosure
1—Extract.]
The Acting
Attorney-General to the Secretary of State.
Department of Justice,
Washington, April 26, 1907.
Sir: Referring again to your letter of
March 20, in reference to the resumption of smuggling of arms
and ammunition from Arizona into Mexico for the use of the Yaqui
Indians, I have the honor to advise that I have received a
report, dated the 12th instant, from the United States marshal
for the Territory of Arizona, giving the result of his
investigation of this matter, which report I inclose herein.
It appears from the report of the marshal that, so far as he can
ascertain, there is no sale of arms and ammunition being made in
Arizona to the Yaqui Indians, and hence no ground for the
prosecution under the territorial laws of Arizona forbidding the
sale of firearms to the Indians; also that there is a good deal
of transmission of arms and ammunition into Mexico, which,
however, is often done under permit from the Mexican Government,
and probably also some considerable smuggling of arms and
ammunition across the border through sparsely settled regions,
where prevention would be exceedingly difficult, if not
impossible, and that in one case, at least, where the marshal
recently obtained knowledge that the ammunition had been
smuggled across the line, his effort to advise the colonel of
the Mexican rural guard in time to seize the goods was defeated
by the colonel’s failure to come for an interview at the place
designated.
On the whole there does not appear anything whatever in the
nature of fitting out of a hostile expedition in this country
against Mexico, and nothing in the sporadic smuggling of arms
across the border which is a violation of the neutrality laws of
this country or which would justify the arrest or punishment of
the smugglers in this country; but the remedy would seem to be
within the hands of the Mexican authorities in the vigilant
prosecution of the offenders on the Mexican side.
I have directed the marshal to continue his investigations of
this matter and to report to me from time to time, especially if
he can discover any evidence of sales of arms being made to the
Yaqui Indians themselves, and have also directed, in the event
he learns of any cases of smuggling, to immediately advise the
Mexican authorities, in order that they may take the proper
steps on the Mexican side. While desirous in every proper way of
showing our friendliness to the Mexican Government, I do not see
that the facts ascertained justify any further action at the
present time.
Respectfully,
