File No. 812.504/133
Ambassador Fletcher
to the Secretary of State
No. 402
American Embassy,
Mexico City,
August 15, 1917.
Sir: With reference to the labor situation at
Tampico, and the general strike which was declared on July 23, 1917, I
have the honor to enclose herewith a copy and translation of note No.
353 dated August 6, 1917 from the Foreign Office regarding the
strike.
I have [etc.]
[Inclosure—Translation]
The Subsecretary of
State to Ambassador Fletcher
0353
Department for Foreign Affairs,
México,
August 6, 1917.
The Subsecretary of State, in charge of the Office of the Exterior,
presents his compliments to his excellency the Ambassador
Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States of America,
and has the honor to state with reference to the attentive note verbale No. 57 which Mr. Summerlin was
pleased to address to him under date of the 24th of July last
relative to the strike at Tampico, that the Subsecretary of State,
Interior Affairs, has been pleased to render to him a report on the
subject submitted by General Ricaut, Provisional Governor of the
State of Tamaulipas. In the said report it is stated that the
Internal Navigation Sailors’ Union requested an increase in wages
and a decrease in working hours, as also an improvement in the
quarters and food furnished on board ship; that in view of their not
having obtained what they desired, they declared a general strike of
all laborers in Tampico, supporting, with this attitude, the
petition of the sailors; that such being the status of the matter,
the local executive intervened and succeeded in having the laborers
return to work and in the employers’ receiving them in accordance
with the law until such time as the committee on conciliation and
arbitration should reach a decision with
[Page 1030]
regard to the petitions mentioned. At the
first meeting of the said committee the question of the working
hours and payment of salaries was discussed, the representatives
both of laborers and employers apparently being inclined to arrive
at a just and proper solution of the difficulty.
Ernesto Garza Pérez avails [etc.]
