File No. 711.1216M/326.

The Acting Secretary of State to the American Ambassador.

No. 775.]

Sir: I enclose herewith copies of correspondence with the Secretary of the Interior1 in regard to his suggestion that negotiations be initiated with Mexico for the creation of an international commission to investigate and report as to the most desirable method of distributing and utilizing the waters of the lower Colorado River.

You will take up immediately with the Mexican Government the question of appointing a commission to consider the broad questions outlined in the first two paragraphs of the letter of February 10, 1912, from the Secretary of the Interior. In this connection you will observe that in his letter of the 18th instant the Secretary of the Interior states that the commission as now organized will not suffice and could not well be made to answer the requirements of the situation.

You should press the matter as rapidly as possible, reporting to the Department from time to time the progress that is making in the negotiations.

I am [etc.]

Huntington Wilson.
  1. Printed ante.