412.11T541/9
The Ambassador in Mexico (Daniels) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 14.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that at my regular Thursday call at the Foreign Office on October 8, 1936, 1 talked with the Minister about the dotation of lands in the Laguna District of Torreon in the States of Coahuila and Durango to the workers on these lands. Before [Page 703] paying my visit, I had received a call from Mr. John Murray, the Minister from Great Britain to Mexico, whose nationals own large properties in that district. He suggested that it might be well, inasmuch as American and British interests are involved, if we jointly made representations, though the British claims are larger than those of our nationals. We decided that it would be best for each of us to act separately.
When I broached the subject of my visit to the Foreign Minister, he informed me that the statement which had been published in the morning papers that the President had signed a decree dotating the lands in the Torreon Laguna District was based upon correct information. The President having taken such official action, in accordance with the Mexican laws, he said the recourse of our nationals would be to file claims for any losses sustained.
This morning I received a letter from the British Minister, with which he enclosed a copy of a letter he had transmitted to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. A copy of that letter, together with copies of the enclosures, are appended hereto.13
Respectfully yours,
- None printed.↩