File No. 812.00/13225.
The Secretary of War to the Secretary of State.
Washington, September 15, 1914.
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I am just in receipt of a communication from the President, in the course of which he directs me to “issue orders and make preparation for the immediate withdrawal of the troops from Vera Cruz.”
In a subsequent telephone conversation that I had with the President, he requested me to ask you if you would please immediately get in contact with the government at Mexico City and inform it that we are about to withdraw from Vera Cruz and that we desire to have some responsible authority to whom to turn over the custom house, and further that we desire to turn the city over to some properly constituted authorities. With respect to the latter, if it is not within the province of the central government at Mexico City to designate the officials to whom the city government should be turned over, or if they do not desire to exercise this authority even if they have it, or if for any reason we think it wiser to adopt another course, it would be possible for General Funston to select from the eligible residents of Vera Cruz officials to fill the various municipal posts and then turn the government over to such government so erected by him.
May I ask, at the behest of the President, that this be done with the greatest possible speed, so that we may set about carrying out his orders as soon as possible.