411.12/1608
The Ambassador in Mexico (Daniels) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 17.]
Sir: I have the honor to submit for the information of the Department a brief report concerning the different steps taken since my appointment in connection with an en bloc settlement of claims.
As the Department is aware, Ambassador González Roa, under telegraphic instructions from his Government dated April 3, 1933, conferred with me in Washington on April 5th regarding the appointment of a Presiding Commissioner for the General Claims Commission, the great desire of the Mexican Government to initiate upon my arrival in Mexico City immediate and formal negotiations looking to an en bloc settlement of claims, and the desirability of postponing further talks regarding the appointment of a Presiding Commissioner for the time being. I agreed to, the plan proposed until I had an opportunity to discuss the en bloc plan in Mexico City with Doctor Puig, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
The substance of the above exchange of views was communicated by Doctor Puig to Mr. Lane, Chargé d’Affaires, on April 7th, and reported by the latter to the Department in Embassy telegram number 65 of April 7th.
On April 13th the Department informed the Embassy by telegram number 49, 5 p.m.,11 that it was disposed to defer to the views of the Mexican Government concerning a decision on the selection of a Presiding Commissioner in the hope that the negotiations between myself and the Minister for Foreign Affairs might give an early indication as to whether or not an acceptable en bloc settlement could be secured.
I arrived in Mexico City on April 15th and presented my credentials on April 24th. However, on April 22nd Minister Puig delivered to me a brief memorandum covering three main topics: a) the social aims of the Revolution and their interpretation in the United States; b) the pending claims before the Commissions, friction in connection therewith, [Page 801] and the effect on the cordial relations between the two countries; c) advantages of an en bloc settlement. A translation of this document and other pertinent papers were forwarded to the Department with my confidential despatches numbers 2 of April 25 and 16 of April 29, 1933.12
On April 29th I conferred with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Doctor Puig. I advised him that I had read his very informative memorandum and that I agreed entirely with him that an en bloc settlement was the best solution to the present problem. I then asked if he had any definite proposals either in the nature of a program or figures. Minister Puig informed me that he would prepare a study with concrete proposals to be delivered three or four days after May 1st. A copy of the memorandum of this conversation was transmitted to the Department as an enclosure to my confidential despatch number 25 of May 2, 1933.13
On May 3rd, Mr. Lane and Colonel Moreno14 visited the Chief of the Diplomatic Department of the Foreign Office to examine in a general way the files relating to the settlement of claims between Mexico on the one hand and France and Spain on the other, settlements that had been referred to by Minister Puig on April 29, 1933. A memorandum of this conversation with Mr. Sierra is transmitted herewith.13
Yesterday (May 11) being diplomatic reception day, I called on Doctor Puig, and in the course of our conversation I inquired regarding the status of the en bloc study he was preparing. Minister Puig replied that owing to the pressure of other business and to his being short-handed (he specifically mentioned that he had at present no Undersecretary, nor a Chief of his Legal Department, Licenciado Suárez having been in the United States on a mission for Mr. Pani since the first of the year), he had been unable to complete the study as soon as he had anticipated, although he had given the matter practically his entire time. He hoped, however, to have it completed in a few days.
In order that Minister Puig, in the preparation of his study, might have a complete understanding of the exhaustive studies prepared by the Embassy in connection with the settlement of claims between governments, which form the basis of the percentages used in the proposals heretofore presented to the Foreign Office by the Embassy, I have informed Minister Puig today in writing that I shall be pleased to place at his disposal the numerous tables prepared in the Embassy, and that Colonel Moreno is ready to explain them at any time that Minister Puig desires.
Respectfully yours,