File No. 711.1216M/218c.
The Department of State to the Mexican Embassy.
Some days ago the Department asked the attention of the Mexican Embassy to the necessity in the interest of both Governments to insure the work on the Colorado River against molestation by the insurgents, and requested the embassy to bring this apprehension to the notice of the Mexican Government with a view to its taking the necessary measures, and at the same time intimating that unless protection could otherwise certainly be assured the Government of the United States would be prepared to cooperate with the Government of Mexico by using its own military forces for the common purpose.
No reply has yet been received from the embassy.
To-day unofficial reports reach the Department to the effect that the situation has suddenly changed; that the insurgents have recaptured Mexicali; that the insurgent leaders intend to raid the grading camps, to entice the Mexican workmen to join them, to drive off the work animals, and to destroy the property. The same reports allege that the work is at a critical stage, that delay would result in heavy and useless expense, and that the property and work already accomplished are in certain jeopardy.
In these disquieting circumstances the Department again and very urgently requests of the Mexican Embassy the earliest possible information as to whether the military cooperation of the United States is needed to insure the common interests of the two Governments in a work which both would be unwilling to have placed in jeopardy as a result of the existing insurrection.
Washington, February 12, 1911.