File No. 412.00/14.
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Mexico, September 20, 1911—8 p.m.
The President of the Claims Commission is said to have announced at one of the sittings that Mexican claims would be given preference, and that after these have been satisfied foreign claimants would be paid from the residue. This view is probably shared by the other members of the Commission. If the Department approves I shall address a note to the Foreign Office asking if the attitude of the President of the Commission has been correctly reported.
American claimants have not been notified formally by the Embassy of the sitting of the Commission, as the views of the Department on that point have not been communicated hither. Considerable confusion exists among American claimants owing to the fact that the Embassy, in the absence of definite instructions as to the ultimate action of the Department, has been unable to advise claimants with certitude.