File No. 812.00/14657.
The Brazilian Minister to Mexico to the Secretary of State.
Mexico City, March 20, 1915—7 p.m.
445. I am requested to transmit to you the following resolution from mass-meeting of over 500 Americans:
The Americans resident in Mexico City in mass-meeting express their appreciation of the Secretary of State’s message of March 12 as communicated to them by the Brazilian Minister.20 However, they most respectfully submit that it is their fixed opinion derived from the past four years’ experience that the time has come to accept the Mexican situation for what it is and not for what it might be hoped that it may become or what interested leaders or warring factions may try to represent it to be. The record is clearly written in facts which show the true value of the pretensions of contending groups.
They note the opinion of the President that he does not think it would contribute to their welfare to grant their request to make public their communication of March 9. They ask that it be made known to the President that it is their firm conviction that their duty requires them to take the people of the United States and of the civilized world into their fullest confidence and in the interests of humanity to lay before them the whole truth of the Mexican situation and in the performance of this duty they earnestly invite and ardently hope for the aid and cooperation of the administration. They desire in so far as they can to controvert the systematic representation of the Mexican situation to put an end to evasion and repression of the truth in regard thereto and especially as to their own situation and attitude. They are not surprised that General Carranza should renew his promise “to exert himself to the utmost to protect lives and property of foreigners” but they submit that the true value of this promise should be estimated by what General Carranza has done and decreed since his triumphal entry into the city of Mexico on August 15, last. The arbitrary taking from Mexicans and foreigners of property including houses, horses, automobiles, carriages, furniture, money and crops; the issuing of decrees so in contravention of right, fairness and justice as to be almost incredible; the deliberate, persistent and ill-concealed attempt to starve a city of half million inhabitants, depriving them of water, fuel and transportation; the shipping defenseless women in locked cattle-cars to Vera Cruz; the carrying away of the controllers of electric cars, thus paralyzing transit; the closing of the courts and schools; the holding of priests for ransom; the arrest and detention of 300 business men who had assembled at the request of the General in charge of Mexico; the persecution of Spaniards; the suppression of the mails and violation of [Page 673] sealed correspondence, both foreign and domestic; the removal of public archives and stripping of public buildings; the open invitation to riot and loot; the sacking of churches and desecration of images; the killing of men and the outrage of women, both foreign and Mexican—are events too recent and well-known to permit of their being overlooked in judgment. The wantonness of some acts renders it impossible to accept the professions of these factions or their counsels as to the course to be pursued by foreigners.
It is the earnest desire of the Americans in Mexico to assist the Washington Government to find a solution for the perplexing international situation that exists and to this end they request that their efforts be regarded as made in good faith and that their knowledge and experience of the Mexican situation be accorded full weight. They are willing to make sacrifices if through them any ultimate good may accrue to the Mexican people or American prestige but they feel that thus far the very opposite has been the result. They consider that American civilization is [omission] trial and has a duty to humanity which no longer should be postponed.
Mexico is drifting toward total destruction from which a mistaken altruism is powerless to save it. The present struggle does not represent the efforts of a people to secure liberty and civil rights so much as a clash of personal ambition and revenge.
Americans in Mexico look to the Administration for the protection which they believe it is their due to receive and the Administration’s desire and unquestionable duty to afford; and they further respectfully express the hope that their views may be given such publicity as may effectively assist the American people in forming a sound opinion on the Mexican situation.
The American committee requests to transmit also following for your information:
An American newspaperman, correspondent of the Los Angeles Times, is now en route to the frontier for the purpose of making public an alleged reply to the President. The document he carries is spurious and it is suggested for this reason that it would be wise to publish the above.
- Department’s telegram 535 of March 12, 4 p.m.↩