File No. 812.512/774.

Consul Simpich to the Secretary of State .

No. 324.]

Sir: I have the honor to report that an increasing number of requests is being made of this Consulate by American owners of taxable property in Sonora for advice concerning tax payments. It appears that in certain towns where in normal times tax collectors are stationed, such as Cumpas, Altar, Magdalena, Arizpe, and others, first one revolutionary faction and then another have lately been in [Page 978] control; there are intervals, too, when avowed bandits hold these places. This obviously interferes with the keeping of regular, permanent tax records, since it is often the practice to kill civil officials found holding office when a town is taken by a rival faction.

As a result of this condition, it is practically impossible, especially at Cumpas, to pay taxes due and now secure such formal receipts as would be adequate later on as proof that proper payment had been made when taxes were due.

Concrete cases in point are those of “The Transvaal Mining Co.” (with offices at Cumpas, Sonora, Mexico, and Cincinnati, Ohio), and Mr. M. M. Sherman (who owns a large cattle ranch near Cumpas and who lives at Crawford, Kansas).

Mr. Henry Clay Beauchamp, manager in Mexico for the Transvaal Mining Co., and Mr. M. M. Sherman, have each represented to me that, owing to the fact that the tax office at Cumpas (where in normal times they pay their taxes) is now closed, they propose to pay no taxes until the Cumpas tax office is formally opened either by the agents of an established government in Mexico, or by some responsible and fairly permanent de facto government.

Such is the point on which these and other Americans ask advice: may they, under the conditions recited, refrain from paying taxes for the present, the same to be paid when order is restored—and all without prejudice to their titles.

My opinion is that no future Government in Mexico would seek to attack the titles of these Americans on the ground that taxes were not paid when due, provided such Americans appear promptly and offer payment when government is eventually re-established; but I have not so advised the American tax-payers in Sonora, and definite instructions from the Department on this question are respectfully awaited.

I have [etc.]

Frederick Simpich.