File No. 312.52/305.
The Secretary of State to the Spanish Ambassador.
Washington, June 6, 1914.
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 2nd instant in which you report that you have been advised that the revolutionary authorities have not only refused to permit all the Spaniards to redeem their cotton on the payment of $15 per bale, but that they have refused $20 per bale from a great many of your compatriots.
In reply I beg to say that I at once telegraphed Mr. Carothers on the subject and urged him to endeavor to convince the Constitutionalist authorities of the inadvisability of putting Spaniards in a class by themselves and demanding from them more redemption money for their cotton than had been demanded from other foreigners. Mr. Carothers was told to point out to these authorities that the Department was of the opinion that the treatment of the Spaniards at Chihuahua and Torreon had been very severe and that the Constitutionalists should consider the advisability of permitting Spanish subjects to redeem their cotton upon the payment of the same amount as had been accepted from other foreigners.
I am [etc.]