811.504/2453
Memorandum of Conversation, by Mr. W. G. MacLean of the Division of the American Republics
I discussed the last paragraph of Ambassador Messersmith’s telegram no. 706 of July 16 [15], 1943,39 with Mr. Stephen Wood of the Bureau of Placement of the War Manpower Commission, Mr. Arthur W. Motley, Chief of that Division, being at the moment in California.
Mr. Wood stated that he had personally been in the Southwest several weeks ago on this question and that he had been assured by War Manpower’s regional representative and by a representative of Mine Management that discriminatory practices against Mexicans had been practically eliminated. He added that they were also determined to eliminate any discriminatory practices the moment they might be brought to light. Mr. Wood authorized us to quote the War Manpower Commission as follows: “You can be assured that no wage differentials exist, and that if any are discovered in practice no Mexican workers will be assigned to those mines.”
Mr. Wood authorized us to renew the offer for Mr. Motley to meet Señor Padilla Nervo, Oficial Mayor of the Mexican Department of Labor, at Phoenix, Arizona, to go over the question with him in the presence of the local Labor Management Committee for that region. [Page 560] Mr. Motley, as stated above, is now in San Francisco, California, and can go to Phoenix at a moment’s notice.
Mr. Wood said that 1,500 workers for Arizona and 500 for New Mexico would meet the immediate critical need for workers and that the War Manpower Commission had in mind that they would be unskilled, that is, pick and shovel workers.
- Not printed.↩