812.52/565
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Mexico (Summerlin)
Sir: Referring to your despatch No. 3496, of November 26, 1920, in which you reported that the press of Mexico City had published the draft of a proposed agrarian law, which it was expected would be submitted to Congress, and which provided that compensation to the owner of lands expropriated should be made on the basis of the registered tax valuation plus 10%, you are directed, should a bill containing such a provision be introduced in a future session of the Mexican Congress, to point out informally to the appropriate authority the injustice that would be done American citizens who have paid taxes during the past several years, when by reason of disturbed conditions they have received no benefits from the land owned by them, if that land should be taken at the depressed valuation indicated. You will point out in this relation that, by the laws of the leading civilized nations of the world, the market value of property expropriated at the time of the taking is uniformly adopted as the appropriate measure of compensation.
I am [etc.]