File No. 812.6363/264
Mr. Parker,
representing American interests, to the Secretary
of State
No. 683
Mexico City,
February 9, 1917.
Sir: With reference to the Department’s
telegraphic instruction No. 53617
of November 7, 7 p.m. directing me to request the proper authorities to
furnish for transmission to the Department an official copy of the
decree relative to the exploration, exploitation and commerce of
minerals, etc., I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of the note
which I have received in reply to my request and the original enclosure
therewith, together with translations of the same.
I have [etc.]
[Inclosure 1—Translation]
The Minister of Foreign
Affairs to Mr. Parker, representing American interests
Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Querétaro,
January 17, 1917.
Mr. Representative: In answer to the
esteemed note No. 193 of your excellency, dated November 9 last, I
have the honor to make known to you that, in accordance with your
request, I herewith send an original copy of the decree dated the
31st of August, 1916, relative to the exploration, exploitation and
commerce of minerals, beds of coal, bituminous deposits, petroleum
and all other carbides or hydrocarbons, liquid or gaseous, which are
found in the subsoil of the National Territory, that your excellency
solicited from this office by instructions from the Secretary of
State of the United States, advising that in the preamble of the
above-mentioned decree the foundations and limits of the same are
expressed very clearly.
I repeat [etc.]
[Subinclosure—Translation]
decree of august 31, 1916, relative to the
exploration, exploitation and commerce of minerals,
petroleum [etc.]
Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army, in
charge of the Executive Power of the United Mexican States, in
exercise of the extraordinary faculties with which I find myself
invested; and considering;
- 1.
- That it is the exclusive faculty of the General Government
to make obligatory laws for the whole Republic on mining,
commerce and banking institutions, national lands and
forest, public lands, waters of federal jurisdiction,
fishing in territorial waters, and on the organization of
work in the various industries.
- 2.
- That the fundamental reason on which is based the said
faculty is that the branches indicated constitute the
principal sources of national wealth, whose legislation and
vigilance must be entrusted to one management and
administration only, to the effect that, with uniformity of
judgment and action, they will direct them to such channels
as will protect them for the prosperity and enlargement of
the country.
- 3.
- That among these sources of wealth they must consider as
included the coal mines, the bituminous compositions, the
petroleum and all other carbides and hydrocarbons, liquid or
gaseous, which are found in the subsoil of the National
Territory, and which for their immense quantity and
incalculable value, make of these products a most important
element in the commerce, as well in the interior as in the
exterior of the Republic.
- 4.
- That whatever the laws or dispositions of the Governors of
the States in these branches of production, they not only
invaded the proper and exclusive sphere of the Federal
Government, but also, complicating and even making
contradictory the measures tending to their development and
expansion, prevented the legislative and administrative
unity necessary for their best investment and profit in
favor of the general interests and even of the private
enterprises.
- 5.
- That in the present circumstances it is the imperious duty
of the presiding General Government to care for zealously,
not only the conservation of the national wealth, avoiding
as much as possible the deterioration or diminishing of
them, but also to give facilities and measures efficacious
for their greatest production and development, which would
have much influence in the real pacification and in the
financial budget of the Republic, I have seen fit to decree
the following:
- Article 1. The Governors of the States cannot
issue laws or decrees, nor dictate dispositions, nor
administrative measures on commerce, mining, banking
institutions, forests and uncultivated and national
lands, public lands, waters in the Federal
jurisdiction, fishing in territorial waters,
organization of the work in the various industries,
and on the exploration, exploitation and commerce of
minerals, coal mines, bitumens, petroleum and all
other carbides and hydrocarbides, liquid or gaseous,
which are to be found in the subsoil of the National
Territory. This prohibition is extended to all
branches which are of the exclusive jurisdiction and
competition of the Federal authority.
- Article 2. All of the laws, decrees and
dispositions which have been dictated or are
dictated hereafter, by the Governors of the States,
on the branches to which the preceding article
refers are null and void and of no legal value or
effect.
transitory
The present law will begin to rule from the date of its
expedition.
For this reason I order that same be printed, published [etc.].
Given in the National Palace of Mexico, August 31,
1916.
V. Carranza
