812.50/374
The Ambassador in Mexico ( Messersmith ) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 29.]
Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a copy of a letter addressed by President Avila Camacho to President Roosevelt (Enclosure No. 1), together with a copy of a translation thereof (Enclosure No. 2),3 as well as a copy of a letter which I have addressed to President Roosevelt (Enclosure No. 3),4 all of which are self-explanatory. It will be noted that in this letter, President Avila Camacho expresses his appreciation in warm terms of the work of the Joint Mexican-United States Economic Committee and the strong conviction that it will be necessary to carry through the recommendations of the Committee as rapidly and as fully as the circumstances permit. It will be further noted that in his letter, President Avila Camacho requests that Mexico be given treatment in the matter of allocations and priorities identic to that, or similar to that, with Canada, in order that the procedures in connection with shipments may be facilitated in the mutual interests of the two countries.
I am transmitting, under separate cover, to Secretary Hull the original of the letter addressed by President Avila Camacho to President Roosevelt, together with the original of my letter addressed to President Roosevelt, with the request that he be good enough to bring these to the attention of the President with appropriate comment.
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In my letter to President Roosevelt, of which a copy is transmitted with this despatch (Enclosure No. 3), I have set forth briefly and as concisely as possible, the reasons why I believe it is in the mutual interests of both countries that we consider a more expeditious and less cumbersome system of licensing shipments to Mexico and of establishing appropriate priorities. As a result of the intervention of various agencies of our Government in this matter, so far as Mexico and the other American republics are concerned, delays which are [Page 254] often serious are almost inevitable as a result of the working of the complicated mechanism which has been set up. What is more important, however, than this is the fact that after decisions of principle with respect to specific allocations, articles and shipments have been reached by the responsible members of our Government in the agencies concerned, it is possible, under the existing procedure, and not infrequently happens, that a subordinate, and at times a rather low subordinate, is in a position to hold up indefinitely the approval of licenses, priorities and shipments which, in principle, have been agreed upon by his superiors. Without going into detail and specific examples, which can readily be cited, it has frequently happened that a subordinate official in one of the agencies whose approval is necessary for a shipment will withhold his signature or approval and indefinitely delay action upon a license because he questions a decision which may have been made by the licensing authorities of the Government, by the licensing unit in our Embassy in the country in question, or even the decision of his own superiors in Washington.
The President of Mexico and the Minister of Foreign Relations who, as the Department is aware, are deeply interested in solidifying the collaboration between our two countries for the near and for the long range, are of the opinion that a simplified procedure will redound greatly to the interest of both countries. They are of the opinion that even though it may not be practicable to apply a simplified procedure such as that which is in effect with Canada to others of the American republics at this time, it is possible to do so, so far as Mexico is concerned, without raising any question of discrimination. They have expressed the opinion that Mexico and Canada are the only two of the American countries which have these long land borders with us and whose relationships in many respects have a special character, particularly in the economic field; therefore, any arrangement which is arrived at with Mexico which is similar to that with Canada cannot be considered as discriminatory treatment against others of the American republics. I am in agreement with this point of view.
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Respectfully yours,