Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 7, 1911
File No. 812.032/3
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Mexico, April 5, 1911.
Sir: I have the honor to transmit to the Department * * * herewith the Spanish and English text of the message of President [Page 445] Diaz to Congress, delivered on the occasion of the opening of Congress on the evening of the 1st instant.
I have, [etc.],
Message of President Diaz to the Twenty-fifth Congress, second session, April 1, 1911.
[Extracts translated from the Diario Oficial, covering all references to the revolution and to the political relations with the United States.]
Gentlemen of the Congeess: I am very glad to appear again in the discharge of a constitutional duty and give you an account of the progress of the administration.
Our relations with foreign countries continue friendly and cordial.
A group who at the recent elections presented candidates for the presidency and vice presidency of the Republic, without having polled more than a small minority of the votes, not limiting their action to the legitimate exercise of popular suffrage that they proclaimed, resorted to arms when the elections were over, disturbing the peace enjoyed for long years in this country. The leaders of the group sought, by activities conducted on foreign as well as on Mexican soil, to organize a general revolutionary movement to break out on a prearranged date.
foreign aid foe rebels.
The protection of the mountains and the effective cooperation in men and war supplies—received from foreign parts as well as from the group of Mexicans who have for years conspired not only against the present Government but against all social order—easily explain how the revolt has kept extending through almost the whole State of Chihuahua, and to several points in Sonora and Durango, in spite of the efforts to limit it made by the Federal Government and those of the States mentioned.
bandits.
At the same time, unfortunately, and not only at those places but also at other points in the country, numerous bands have sprung up without any political motive and animated solely by a spirit of banditry which has begun to develop afresh and is spreading through the country greater terror, perhaps, than was caused by those that started the revolt.
american filibusters.
In Baja California another sort of movement began, caused by groups of communists among whom are many American filibusters, with the fantastic project of forming a Socialist State. So unspeakable a purpose must provoke the greatest indignation in the country, and I am sure that if necessary the Mexican people, always patriotic and jealous of their autonomy, will hasten to the defense of national territory. * * * [Tribute to the army.]
american army maneuvers.
Some time later there was an extraordinary concentration of American forces on the frontier. The Executive, as was his duty, instructed his ambassador at Washington to request an explanation of the maneuver. The instructions crossed a message from President Taft in which, of his own accord, he gave assurances that the concentration had no significance that might cause alarm to the neighbors to the south, friends of the United States. The withdrawal of the ships which that Government had mobilized in the two oceans, and the fact that the Army is about to conduct some maneuvers, are the best testimony to the sincerity of those assurances, which have been repeated on subsequent occasions. * * *
[Page 446]The Platform of President Diaz.
Gentlemen of the Congress, it might be inferred from the data as to public administration in its various departments contained in the foregoing message that notwithstanding the revolt—started in an evil hour by a group of Mexicans who are either laboring under lamentable misconceptions or have been grossly deceived—the country has kept on progressing economically and intellectually up to the beginning of the present year, but in truth such progress is now obstructed by the political situation that has been developing and which demands—of the Government and of the sensible mass of the Nation each in its own sphere—the greatest solicitude and the most strenuous efforts to apply some prompt and efficacious remedy.
Recent expressions of public opinion on various questions of governmental policy have attracted general attention; the Executive therefore thinks it fitting to make known the measures which he believes ought to be taken, and the views by which he will be guided in his endeavor to warrant the confidence that the country has reposed in him.
changes of ministry.
The change of ministry just effected aims, for example, at satisfying in practice one very general aspiration, which is that the political personnel be renovated from time to time. If I have not hesitated to part with the services of capable, loyal and honest advisers, who for a greater or less length of time had given me their valued cooperation, my single aim has been to set a precedent of not carrying on the Government indefinitely with the same cabinet, however high may be the merits of the persons composing it, and to show that room should be made, from time to time, for new energies in the direction of public affairs.
correction of local abuses.
Furthermore, measures will be taken that will demonstrate a firm purpose to give heed to reasonable complaints that are made against some of the authorities, especially those who are in closest touch with the people. It is to be hoped that in this policy the Federal Government will be seconded by the Governments of the States, which, by reason of the administrative instrumentalities depending on them, are better able to remedy the evil in question.
no reelection.
The principle of no reelection for executive functionaries, chosen by popular suffrage, had not of late been broached in any legislative assembly of the republic, and for that reason the Federal Executive had not thought proper to express an opinion as to a question which, by its nature, falls within the province of those assemblies; but seeing that the issue has recently been brought up in some of the State legislatures and has also been discussed in the press, the executive takes this occasion to manifest his hearty assent to the principle in question and to declare that if a bill is brought before Congress providing for the periodical renovation of the functionaries referred to the administration will give to such measure its earnest support.
electoral reform.
Intimately bound up with the adoption of the principle of no reelection is the question of the reform of the electoral laws, for inasmuch as the long continuance in power of certain functionaries is believed to be in part attributable to the defects of those laws, it is indispensable without delay to amend them, in order to insure the effective participation of those citizens who are considered capable of voting with a full consciousness of what they are doing.
division of large estates.
In view of the not very satisfactory results of the measures hitherto taken to bring about the division of large rural estates on terms that would be fair to all concerned, so as to render those estates available for tillage, the executive is determined to find means for carrying out this important project in the most efficient manner possible.
[Page 447]independence of the judiciary.
At different times endeavors have been made to introduce reforms in the administration of justice in the Federal courts and in the local courts of the Federal district and the Territories, and these endeavors alone suffice to demonstrate the importance which the executive attaches to the improvement of this vital function. At the same time the executive is not unaware that much remains to be done to complete the work and to correct the defects which observation brings to light and public opinion points out. The various measures which it is proposed to introduce after a mature and minute consideration of all the elements of the problem will aim fundamentally at insuring more effectively the independence of the judiciary by securing a more select personnel and lengthening their term of office, while another object of the measures in question will be to render more stringent the responsibilities of judicial functionaries, by providing really efficacious forms of procedure for bringing them to account for malfeasance.
an appeal to patriotism.
In carrying out all these reforms, which constitute a task of uncommon magnitude, the executive trusts that the colegislative chambers will now, as they have ever done, give him their invaluable support and will bring their ripe experience to the consideration of these arduous problems.
At the same time the executive appeals most earnestly to the patriotism and good judgment of the Mexican people, trusting that on this occasion, as on many others, they will prove equal to the task of extricating the Republic from the difficulties by which it is surrounded and maintaining unimpaired the ideals of progress and civilization which have won for our country so high a place in the esteem and respect of other nations.