811.504 Mexico/313
The Ambassador in Mexico (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 21.]
Sir: …
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Immediately upon my return to Mexico City,68 it was possible through assurances received from the War Manpower Commission, to renew the recruiting of agricultural workers, which is now under way again, and the first trainload under the program of this year, will leave this week.
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In spite of the fact that I had not received any information as to the lifting of the embargo69 when I saw the President on the afternoon of February 15, 1 took up the matter of the need of 20,000 additional workers for the railways with him. I explained to him that he had originally authorized the recruitment of 5,000 workers under the agreement for non-agricultural workers. At our request he and the Mexican Government had increased this authorization so that we could have up to 20,000 of such workers in the United States at one time. I emphasized the importance of the service which these 20,000 [Page 1295] men were rendering on our railways. I then went on to say that we had had a considerable increase in accidents on our railways which were primarily due to the fact, it was believed, that there was lack of adequate repair of the tracks. This was brought about by lack of manpower because men were drawn into the army and the war effort. I said that the need for additional railway workers was imperative in the United States and that the best and most natural source was Mexico. I asked him to consider sending another “division to the front.”
I had informed the President in the same conversation, of the steps which the Embassy was taking which I was sure the Department of State would support, to bring about a lifting of the embargo on railway cars, which embargo the President had brought to my attention on my return as being so disastrous for the Mexican Economy.
The President said that he recognized the importance of these railway workers to us, and that in spite of the difficulties he had met here, he wished to continue this program and was prepared to grant this further amplification thereof as a measure of collaboration with us. He informed me that he would immediately give the necessary authorization to the various agencies of the Mexican Government and that we could proceed with the recruiting of 20,000 additional workers for the railways under the non-agricultural agreement. The action of the President of Mexico in this respect is characteristic of his understanding and his very real spirit of collaboration. I wish again to emphasize that this action is not an easy one for him to take for there are many elements in Mexico which are of the opinion that this labor is needed in Mexico and that the draining off of this labor to the United States is affecting various situations in at least a number of states in Mexico.
A formal note70 has been addressed to the Foreign Office requesting the authorization for the recruiting of 20,000 additional railway workers and I discussed this matter with the Minister of Foreign Affairs last evening and he states that the appropriate authorization has been received from the President and that we may begin recruiting up to that additional number immediately.
During the course of the conversation with the President on this matter on February 15, the President stated that he thought it would be a very good thing if some thousand or more of these additional 20,000 workers authorized for the railways would come from the shops and various divisions of the National Railway Lines in Mexico in order that they might gain experience and morale through service in our railway shops and other railway work than track work, while in the United States. I said that I did not consider the idea impracticable, but that it presented difficulties from here and at home. The [Page 1296] President said that surely there was need in the railway shops at home, as well as on the track, for workers, and that it was his desire to improve the morale and capacities of the railway workers in Mexico and he saw a possibility for this arrangement being used to that end. I told the President that I would be very glad to discuss this further with him, together with Mr. Stevens, of the United States Railway Mission,71 but that I understood that this did not in any way interfere with the recruiting of the workers under the increase which he had just authorized, and he said that this was so. The President said that he would naturally have to discuss the matter also with the railway syndicate, which might be disposed to make some opposition to sending any Mexican railway workers now with the National Lines temporarily to the United States.
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Respectfully yours,
- The Ambassador arrived in Mexico City in the late afternoon of February 10.↩
- Embargo imposed by the United States on its railroad cars entering Mexico. For correspondence on this subject, see pp. 1234 ff.↩
- Not found in Department files.↩
- Oliver Stevens, Chief of the United States Railway Mission to Mexico, established in April 1942. For correspondence concerning this mission, see pp. 1234 ff.↩