Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 5, 1916
File No. 812.63/209
Mr. Parker, representing American interests, to the Secretary of State
Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 401, dated September 17, 11 a.m., relative to the operation of mines in Mexico, I have the honor to transmit herewith triplicate copies, together with a translation, of the decree bearing on the matter.
I have [etc.]
Decree issued by General Carranza at Mexico City on September 14, 1916
Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army, in charge of the Executive Power of the Republic, in view of the faculties of which I am vested, and considering:
That it is a principle of public rights, generally admitted not only by the authors of treaties but also in the common and constant practice of the most advanced people, that the State should intervene exercising the appropriate functions of its institution, when it is made necessary by the solidary interests [Page 732] of the individual, of the nation or of humanity, be it in order to obtain his conservation or protection, or be it for the procurement of its progressive development, giving therefore both objects the supreme criterion to legitimate and regulate the march of the Government;
That the intervention of the State (when the solidary interests of the associated are involved) must be in proportion to its importance, according to the nature of said interests and the special circumstances of time and place to the end that it may be opportune and appropriate, therefore it must extend still further than the individual or corporate activity may be capable in reaching certain desired ends, to the end that the State shall not intervene when the purely individual interests are involved and affect no general interests;
That in the mining laws of Mexico, previous to the one now in force and to the one preceding it, it was considered as of public utility in conformity with the principle before mentioned the operation of the mines, which were given precisely under that condition, which should be filled keeping a determined number of workmen in the small number of pertenencias which was ceded in each concession with a view that the work should not be suspended more than a certain time; said utility consisting that there should be exploited for the benefit of the Nation all the metallurgical veins hidden in the bosom of the earth and in the advantages which said exploitation would bring about to the public treasury taking it for granted as inconvenient for the development of the mining industry and for the same reasons for the industry of the country in general, that this branch of the national richness should rest entirely subject to the will of the concessionaries, who could paralyze it at their will in this case;
That the mining law in force reserving the ownership of the mines to the nation believed nevertheless in granting dominion to private persons and corporations that they should have it with the condition of the payment of a tax; leaving to the individual initiative of the concessionaries the operation of them, so that it was left to their own will their operation or indefinite paralization.
That this law, besides having favored only big speculations, has made impossible exploitation by workmen without capital and of concentrating all the important concerns in the hands of foreigners, who limit themselves to exchange negotiations rather than useful works, has brought the grave inconvenience of monopolizing great extensions of claims and metallic veins, which have been substracted from the public interests;
That besides these inconveniences the majority of mine concessionaries has been producing another one of grave transcendence in the circumstances through which the country is actually traversing as the result of the struggle which the Constitutionalist Government had to sustain, first against Huerta’s usurpation and afterwards against the reaction which succeeded in dividing the triumphant army, which inconvenience consists in the paralization of the work of the mines, thus leaving the majority of the mining population without means of subsistence and depriving the Treasury of the resources produced ordinarily by said industry;
That the conduct of the majority of the mining concerns to which reference has been made is in the present case, graver still because it obeys the idea of increasing the obstacles that this Government has for the assurance of order and implantation of peace, because with this conduct they procure help to their enemies in the continuance of the anti-patriotic labor of seeking the help of foreign governments, exciting them to intervene in the affairs of the country, under the pretext of putting into safety interests of foreigners, interests which are not in danger, and that, furthermore, this Government has been and is still disposed to protect efficiently, extending all rational guarantees to be expected;
That in view of the foregoing it is necessary to put a remedy to the inconvenience indicated, taking to that effect such measures as the public interest claims, in view of the fact that a painful experience has shown in a clear manner that the individual action left at its own will in this matter, injures severely the solidary interests of the country.
In view of all the above said I have seen fit to decree as follows:
Article I. All mine concessionaries (mine owners) are obliged to work their mines under penalty of forfeiture if’ work is suspended for more than two months in succession or three months interruptedly during one year.
[Page 733]Article II. Mine owners who have just cause for the paralization of work, shall obtain permission from the Department of Fomento, which permission can only be granted if this cause is amply justified, and for a period which shall never exceed more than three months, unless the same causes for suspension exist making the exploitation impossible and in this case it may be extended for the time strictly necessary.
Article III. The Department of Fomento considering the statements of the owners, shall fix in each case, in the new concessions or those already made but not worked the minimum numbers of laborers which each mine owner shall employ in the work, taking into consideration the number of pertenencias.
Article IV. Mine owners who have had or may have their mines in exploitation shall occupy in their labors as many laborers as have been employed or were employed at the suspension of work, it being understood that the Department of Fomento may alter this number according to the necessities of the exploitation.
Article V. If a concession is declared forfeited by the Department of Fomento this Department shall immediately notify the Department of Hacienda for its decision as to whether the mine should be left at the disposition of the public for redenouncement or whether the property should continue to be exploited by the nation, in which case it shall appoint a person for its administration and the continuance of the corresponding operations.
Article VI. This decree goes into effect from the date of its publication.
constitution and reforms
Given in the City of Mexico, National Palace, on the 14th day of September, 1916.