File No. 312.11/285.
The Secretary of State to the American Consul at Chihuahua.
Washington, April 27, 1912—6 p.m.
Your April 24, 5 p.m. Bearing in mind Department’s March 27, 4, p.m., regarding payment of taxes, you will informally protest to appropriate persons exercising de facto authority in your district [Page 910] against all arbitrary, illegal or confiscatory exactions made by such persons upon American citizens or their property. In matter of “forced loans” you will distinguish between levy in the form of war taxes equally applied according to a fixed percentage amongst all the inhabitants of the country, whether natives or foreigners, and exactions levied arbitrarily upon a part only of the community. See volume 6, Moore’s Digest, page 915.
Referring again to Department’s March 27, 4 p.m., protests should be entered against payment of all taxes to insurrectionary authorities; you will also enter special and emphatic protests informally and unofficially against arbitrary and discriminatory exactions, “forced loans.” Protests should be recorded if possible.