File No. 812.48/2152a.
The Secretary of State to the Brazilian Minister to Mexico.
Washington, March 25, 1915—7 p.m.
580. Information received from various parts of Mexico and especially from Mexico City indicates a scarcity of food and a great danger of famine, due in part to shortage of supply, in part to interruption of communication and in part to the withdrawal of large numbers from productive activity. You will please lay the matter before Garza and say that this Government feels it its duty to urge upon him the importance of making inquiry as to the present and prospective food supply. The present situation, deplorable as it is, will be greatly aggravated if the distress of famine is added to the horrors of war. General Garza will understand what the judgment of the civilized world must be if wholesale famine falls upon the land as a result of the inability of the factions to get together and form a government under which the ordinary occupations of life can be resumed.