File No. 812.00/15654.
Consul Letcher to the Secretary of State.
Chihuahua, July 31, 1915.
Sir: I am in receipt of a letter dated July 28 from Mr. William J. Quigley, Manager of the El Potosí Mining Company, one of the members of the Mine and Smelter Operators’ Association, in which I am requested to bring the following matter to the Department’s attention and to request an opinion thereon for the guidance of the parties in interest.
On July 12 the executive committee of the Mine and Smelter Operators’ Association was summoned before Sr. Francisco Escudero, Minister of Finance in the de facto Government of General Villa, otherwise self-styled the Conventionist Government, and a request was made of them, as coming from General Villa, to advance the said Government the sum of $300,000 on the understanding that loans made by the various companies having membership in the association, in pursuance of the request mentioned, would be credited to such companies in the payment of taxes and freight charges as these might become due in the future. The association in due time, through its secretary, advised Sr. Escudero, in effect, that it would be impossible for the operating mining and smelting companies to meet his demands, by reason of their foreign character, and the danger that making loans of the character proposed might be construed by adverse factions in the present civil conflict in Mexico as a hostile proceeding in so far as they were concerned, with the result that the companies guilty of these indiscretions might lay themselves to penalties in the future.
The mining companies are now fully expecting, either in the immediate future or more remotely, action of a more vigorous kind calculated to secure the results aimed at by Sr. Escudero, and in this [Page 931] understanding they request the Department to advise them as to what measures they should pursue to prevent the collection of forced loans that may be ordered against them.
I have [etc.]