Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1918

File No. 812.00/21884

The Secretary of State to the Secretary of War ( Baker)

Washington, April 17, 1918.

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of April 12, 1918,¹ with which you enclose, for my attention, a copy of a telegram dated at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, April 11, 1918, from General Ruckman, stating that he has been advised by the commanding officer of the Big Bend district that heavy reenforcements of Mexican troops have arrived at different points along the Rio Grande.

In reply, I have the honor to enclose herewith a paraphrase of a telegram dated April 14, 1 p.m., from the American Ambassador at Mexico City, from which it appears that President Venustiano Carranza has caused strict orders to be issued to Mexican troops not to fire upon persons on the American side of the boundary. It appears, also, that President Carranza has expressed the hope that similar orders might be given to American troops along the Rio Grande.

Accordingly, I have the honor to suggest, for your consideration, the advisability of communicating the contents of the Ambassador’s telegram to the Commanding General of the Southern Department, together with renewed instructions that no American troops shall fire upon any person on the Mexican side of the international boundary, unless such troops shall first have been fired upon from the Mexican side, and return of fire is made necessary as a measure of self-defense.

Further, in view of the numerous notes that have lately been received by this Government from the Mexican Embassy, protesting against the killing of Mexican citizens, on Mexican soil, by American soldiers, and against the invasion of Mexico by our soldiers, I am of the opinion that, with the arrival of Mexican reenforcements on the border, it might be well, at least for the present, not to permit American soldiers to pursue Mexican bandits into Mexico, but to discontinue such pursuit at the border line, when a prompt effort should be made to have the pursuit taken up by forces of the Mexican Government.

I shall be pleased to learn what action is taken by you in this matter, in order that I may make an appropriate response to the Ambassador’s telegram.

I have [etc.]

Robert Lansing

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Mexico ( Fletcher)

[Telegram]

Washington, April 17, 1918, 8 p.m.

986. Your 972, March 14. You may say that this Government sincerely reciprocates President Carranza’s desire to improve border conditions and that it is giving serious consideration to border situation, with a view to the issuance of renewed instructions to appropriate United States military authorities.

As soon as these instructions have been issued, you will be advised of their nature.

Lansing

1. Not printed.