812.50/347
The Ambassador in Mexico (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 2.]
Sir: …
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Just before leaving for Washington on Saturday, June 26, Mr. Valentin Garfías, a member of the Mexican Commission, summed up his idea of the accomplishments of the joint Commission as follows. He said that in reality the Mexicans viewed the short-term accomplishments as satisfactory, but that too much stress and space had been placed on long-term projects. He said the Mexican people were expecting immediate results and that, if in the announcements and final documents to be signed, the short-term benefits were not stressed, the Mexican people would gain the impression that another commission had ended its labors without giving immediate relief from a bad economic situation. Mr. Garfías emphasized that immediate benefits so far agreed to were satisfactory and that they should by all means be stressed. He added that the projects for the future were also praiseworthy, but that they should occupy less space and prominence than those agreements designed to give immediate relief. Mr. Garfías made one further observation. He said that the Mexicans realized that there were many Departments and Agencies of Government in Washington which must give their consent before many of the important agreements reached by the Mexican-American Commission [Page 419] for Economic Cooperation could become effective. He said that he and a number of the higher officials of the Mexican Government were quite confident that a satisfactory agreement would be reached by the Commission, but they carried in the back of their minds the apprehension that when there are too many fingers in the pie it is apt to be spoiled. Actually what he meant does not need any explanation, as “too many fingers in the pie” refers to our many Agencies of Government upon which the fulfillment of the Agreements depends.
Respectfully yours,
Counselor of Embassy for Economic Affairs