File No. 812.00/6534.
The Acting Secretary for Foreign Affairs of the Vásquez Gómez-Provisional Government to the Secretary of State.1
To the Secretary of State of the
United States of North America:
The Provisional President of the Revolution of the United Mexican States has ordered me to inform your excellency, through the [Page 740] Department of Foreign Affairs of the Provisional Government, for the purpose of convincing the Government and people whom you represent, of the formation and existence of the Provisional Government of Mexico, and of the functions which it is performing, all for the proper purposes.
The principal purpose of the Revolution begun in 1910 was to meet urgent needs existing among the Mexican people. It was proposed, by the powerful hand of the nation, to store up the great quantities of water which flow through our territory; to buy up large tracts of uncultivated land for the purpose of dividing and distributing it among the poor farmers in order to form a system of small agricultural holdings and in this way bring under cultivation the large tracts of arable land which we have in Mexico and which is now of no use to any one; and furthermore to develop agricultural instruction among bur inhabitants in order to fit them for the struggle for existence, thus elevating their intellectual, moral and economic condition.
The triumph of the revolutionary arms in May, 1911, established new officials, but as they did not proceed to satisfy the aforementioned needs, the armed revolution continued its course against the new high officials, at the head of whom was Francisco I. Madero.
After various events which it is unnecessary to relate in this note, whatever may be their importance, General José Inez Salazar, Commander in Chief of the revolutionary forces of the North, and his lieutenants, saw fit to call upon the candidate of the Revolution for the sane and honorable purpose of forming a Provisional Government in order to organize the revolutionary forces, direct the policy of the Revolution, and enact laws by which to solve the agrarian problem, that is, the storing up of our waters, the formation of small agricultural holdings, and the practical education of the Mexican people in the labors which will fit the members thereof for the struggle for existence. Consequently, upon the arrival of the candidate at this camp, the principal members of the revolutionary forces met and made the following declaration for the purposes indicated:
Licenciado Emilio Vásquez Gómez is hereby declared Provisional President of the United Mexican States, to preside over and direct the affairs of the Revolution and enact laws relating to the agrarian problem, being empowered immediately to form a Cabinet composed of such persons as he may deem suitable, all for the purpose of carrying on the Revolution according to the plan of San Luis as revised at Tacubaya and Villa de Ayala, directing the domestic and foreign policy of the Revolution. Second: It was resolved to communicate this to all the revolutionists of the Republic.
With a view to carrying out the mission intrusted to it, the Provisional Government, through the proper executive departments, has enacted various measures the chief of which are the following:
- 1.
- Confirmation of General José Inés Salazar as Supreme Commander of the revolutionary forces of the North.
- 2.
- Rules to govern the revolutionary forces, prescribing [etc]
- 3.
- Decree opening to foreign commerce the customhouse of Palomas.
- 4.
- Law organizing all persons confined in jails for common-law crimes, in order to execute the works connected with storing up waters throughout the national territory.
- 5.
- Law imposing on the Provisional Government, when the Revolution triumphs, the obligation to buy up uncultivated lands and divide and distribute them so as to introduce a system of small agricultural holdings throughout the Republic.
I inclose a copy of all these decrees, and as your excellency will see, the existence and operation of the Provisional Government of the Revolution in the United Mexican States is an actual fact. These two important circumstances, the orderly and regular movement of its forces, the guaranties which it gives to all persons and interests within the jurisdiction under its sway, and the tremendous benefit which it procures to the Mexican people and all persons residing in the country by solving the agrarian problem in the way it does, cause the Provisional Government of the Revolution to exert the only powerful influence on the public mind of the country.
The City of Mexico alone is excepted from this influence, but this is due solely to the violence of the events which have just occurred in that city.
What has been stated, and the honesty and morality which characterize the conduct of both the officials and the forces of the Provisional Government, which moreover exclusively dominate a considerable area of territory, suggest the suitability of its being recognized just as every government is recognized which operates honorably and with high purpose in behalf of the people and of humanity.
The undersigned hopes that your excellency will kindly give an account of this note to your Government for all proper purposes.
The undersigned expresses [etc.]
For the Assistant Secretary of Foreign Affairs, absent on a special mission:
- Received March 6; communicated to the Ambassador March 17; filed March 21.↩