File No. 312.11/293a.
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of War.
Washington, April 25, 1912.
Sir: In order to secure information at first hand as to conditions affecting Americans and American interests on the west coast of Mexico, and to provide a means of escape from the serious situation in which many Americans at various points along the coast have been represented to be by our consular officers, as well as by private persons, I have the honor to request that one of the Army transports now out of commission, of which this Department understands there are two in the harbor of San Francisco, be at once made ready to proceed to the west coast of Mexico for the purposes above mentioned.
The vessel, when ready for sailing, should touch first at the port of San Diego, Cal., there to take on board Mr. Claude E. Guyant, who has been designated by this Department to act as American consular agent at Los Mochis, Sinaloa.
It should then proceed directly to the Bay of Topolobampo, in Sinaloa, and, after having taken on board there such Americans as desire to come away, proceed as soon as possible successively to the ports of Altata and Mazatlan, in the State of Sinaloa; San Bias, in the Territory of Tepic; Manzahillo, in the State of Colima; and then to Acapulco, Guerrero, and Salina Cruz, Oaxaca, at which last place the vessel should await orders as to its return trip. It may be necessary to request that it be ordered to come back up the coast, touching at various ports, to relieve any other Americans who may have been able to come into the ports by that time from interior places.
The Department does not anticipate, from the consular reports it has received, that the number of refugees will be very large, and a ship with capacity for from five to six hundred persons would, it is thought, be adequate for all needs. The vessel should carry, in addition to her regular crew, a good physician, as it has been reported that some of the refugees are ill. It should also be supplied for a cruise to extend over a period of six weeks certainly, and possibly for a longer period, as it may be found necessary to wait at some ports for Americans on their way from the interior, and even to visit some [Page 803] places along the coast other than those mentioned on account of the inability of Americans to reach the ports at which the vessel is now scheduled to stop.
The Department of State can probably arrange to meet the expenses of this trip from its emergency fund, but would prefer not to do so, as the fund is small, in case there are funds at the disposition of the War Department with which the expenses can properly be defrayed.
In the opinion of the Department of State it would be better not to Charge the Americans who are taken on board either for passage or for subsistence. The question of the disposition of those who have no homes or friends to go to upon arrival in the United States will be taken up by the Department with the American National Red Cross.
I have [etc.]