File No. 812.63/36.
The Secretary of State to Consul Letcher.
Washington, December 14, 1914.
Sir: The Department has received your despatch No. 557 of November 21, 1914, requesting instructions as to how Americans applying to your Consulate should be advised as to their action with relation to the decree of General Carranza of August 29, 1914, requiring the re-payment of mining fees and taxes which were paid to the Huerta administration during its continuance.
[Page 729]When the Department was first informed of the provisions of the decree of General Carranza of August 29, 1914, to which, you refer, it requested the Brazilian Minister at Mexico City to state to the appropriate authorities the views of this Government that American citizens who have acquired rights or interests in good faith and in conformity with the laws of Mexico should not be bound by the provisions of that decree. It was added, however, that this statement must not be understood as applying to persons who claim, directly or indirectly, titles or interests in mines, or mining rights which they have acquired since January 1, 1913, by reason of the cancellation of contracts, leases, or other forms of conveyance, or by reason of the confiscation or taking by de facto authorities of mines or mining rights in which American citizens or other foreigners are interested on the ground of default of contractual obligations or noncompliance with legal requirements, provided such default or noncompliance was unavoidable because of military operations or political disturbances in Mexico.
The Brazilian Minister, in reply to the representations which he made pursuant to such request of the Department, was informed, as the Department understands, that, notwithstanding such representations, the provisions of the decree in question would remain in force. Upon receiving this information, the Department on November 4, 1914, asked the Minister to inform the appropriate authorities that this Government could not submit to such an application of the provisions of said decree as would result in the loss to American citizens of rights or interests acquired in good faith and in conformity with the laws of Mexico.
So far as concerns the individual cases, of American citizens affected by this decree, it would seem that the Department could offer them no further advice than to inform them of the above action which it has taken, and to say to them that, if they consider it advisable to attempt to comply with the provisions of the decree, under generally accepted principles of international law, they are entitled to pay taxes to persons in de facto authority.
I am [etc.]