File No. 812.113/218.
The Acting Secretary of State to the American Ambassador.
Washington, March 17, 1912—10 p.m.
Your March 15, 5 p.m., and Department’s March 16, 7 p.m. I quote for your information presidential order governing the exportation from this country of coal and other munitions of war to the Republic of Santo Domingo, in accordance with joint resolution 25, Fifty-fifth Congress, second session, April 22, 1898:
It is ordered that the export of the articles below described be, and is hereby, permitted under the terms of, and notwithstanding the proclamation of October 14, 1905,3 prohibiting the export of arms and munitions of war from any port in the United States or Porto Rico to any port in the Dominican Republic. [Here follows the enumeration of arms or ammunition.]
It is probable that similar procedure will now be followed in the case of Mexico.
The possibility of obtaining rifles and ammunition for the arms and ammunition committee of the American colony organization is being investigated. If they can be secured they will be consigned directly to you, with the understanding that you are to deliver them only to such Americans as shall satisfy you that the use to which they are to be put is wholly that of their personal defense, and that there is no possibility of their falling into the hands of anyone or of their being used in any way that would promote domestic disorder in Mexico.
The President’s proclamation of March 14 applies impartially to all shipments of arms and munitions of war from this country destined to Mexico, and for the present, for obvious reasons, no exceptions are being made. It is feared that shipments, even for industrial purposes, might be seized and used to promote domestic disorder.