File No. 812.00/633.
[Untitled]
The Department of State has received a memorandum dated the 11th instant from the Mexican Embassy, in which it is stated that the embassy learns from the consul of Mexico at San Antonio, Tex., that an attempt was made on the evening of the 10th instant to remove the 100 guns and 75,000 cartridges stored at that place; that the local authorities are holding two Mexican laborers who were found loading arms and ammunition and refused to say who had ordered them to do that work; and that two wagons and, four animals were also detained pending the progress of the appropriate investigation.
The embassy requests that the investigation be carried out so as to prevent the unlawful use of the said arms and ammunition, and that steps be taken to establish the culpability of those who may be found to be implicated in the attempt spoken of.
In compliance with the embassy’s request, the Department of State has sent to the Attorney General, for his information and appropriate action, a copy of the Mexican Embassy’s memorandum.
In this connection the Department of State begs to suggest to the Mexican Embassy for its consideration that the mere traffic in arms and ammunition by citizens of the United States and Mexico is not forbidden by the rules either of international law or of the neutrality statutes of the United States, and that so long as the transactions are purely commercial and not connected with a military enterprise or expedition having its origin in the United States the traffickers would appear to be subject to no other interference than the confiscation of their goods by the Government of Mexico upon their arrival within the jurisdiction of that Government. This Government will, however, continue to use every endeavor to prevent the illegal use of such [Page 397] arms and ammunition by persons resident or commorant in the United States.
Washington, January 24, 1911.