File No. 812.00/4899.
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Mexico, August 28, 1912.
My Dear Mr. Knox: During most of the time since my last despatch of May 15 the more important and significant events of the revolution have occurred in a theater remote from the capital, and [Page 829] therefore susceptible of more accurate observation and prompter relation than the Embassy could possibly give. Some recent events and tendencies, however, and the continued activity of the revolutionary movement in the south and in some sections hitherto free from disturbances seem to call for more extensive recital than is possible within the limits of cablegraphic communication.
In the north, in the States of Durango and Chihuahua and along the frontier, the uniform and decisive victories of the Federal armies, due almost entirely to their possession of abundant and modern artillery, rather than to their general efficiency, equipment, and fighting qualities, have resulted in a practical dispersal of the organized revolutionary army and the recovery to the National Government of the capital of Chihuahua and the important port of entry, Ciudad Juárez. These victories and this recovery of territory, however, while lending a temporary prestige to the National Government, have apparently produced no other substantial results. The organized revolutionary army has split up into numerous small bands ranging in size from 100 to 1,000 men, which have scattered over the territory in the rear and to the west of the Federal army, carrying on a work of destruction, robbing, murdering, and committing all sorts of savage and abominable crimes. With these roving bands the Federal army seems utterly incompetent to deal and conditions, therefore, with the peaceful and law-abiding elements of society, are even more distressing than they were before the disintegration of Orozco’s forces. As American interests are very large through all this section, extending from Torreón to Alamos, the existence of these guerilla bands and the apparent inability of the Federal Government to afford adequate protection produce a situation full of menace to American lives and property and calling for the active vigilance of our Government. To the inconveniences and dangers growing out of these predatory guerrilla movements may be added the exactions, the petty tyrannies of the officials recently installed by the Mexican Government, many of whom seem to think that they must earn their right to popular favor and the confidence of their Government by the persecution and harassment of foreign and especially American interests. This is notably the case with Abraham González, the present governor of Chihuahua, whose exactions and malevolent attitude toward Americans is arousing a deep resentment which may at some future time render necessary our active interposition.
Coming south and east from the section of country which has been the field of military operations we find the States of Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosí, Hidalgo, Aguascalientes, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Jalisco, and Zacatecas with no organized revolutionary movement against the Government but with abundant cases of brigandage and violent offenses against the more prosperous elements of society, especially the foreign elements, and with political organizations which may at any time take the form of open and organized rebellion. In the States of Sinaloa and Michoacán there is apparently no organized revolutionary movement at the present time, but it is reported, apparently with truth, that Orozco’s agents are busy there and there are indications, in the murder of wealthy and prominent planters, that the day is not far off when these States will renew the disturbances which afforded such great concern to the Federal [Page 830] Government some months past. In the extreme south the States of Yucatan, Chiapas, and Campeche seem to be peaceful, supposedly because of their complete isolation from public affairs and perhaps also because of the absolute physical control of the situation by large proprietors. In the State of Vera Cruz there is apparently no organized movement, but in large sections of the State there is no security for human life nor for property and conditions exist which do not in any way differ in their practical results from those produced by a revolutionary movement.
In the States of Puebla, Oaxaca, Morelos, Guerrero, and Mexico the revolution is a tangible and formidable fact, as is proven by the devastation of thousands of homes and the taking of thousands of human lives. Over this wide area human life is not safe and property rights have no value whatsoever. Entire villages have been burned, their inhabitants—men, women, and children—slaughtered and mutilated indiscriminately; plantations have been ravaged and burned, trains have been blown up and derailed, and passengers slaughtered like cattle; women have been ravished and men mutilated with accompaniments of horror and barbarity which find no place in the chronicles of Christian warfare. It is impossible to accurately estimate the number of these savages which are under arms, nominally under the command of Zapata. With this situation, as far as my observation goes, the Government is either wholly incompetent or wholly impotent to deal. The peaceful inhabitants of this vast district, the men who own homes or plantations and are occupied in peaceful pursuits, have abandoned all hope of assistance from this Government or of protection to their property or persons. Planters have abandoned their estates, foreigners have fled to other and more peaceable regions, and there is very little else left except Federal soldiers and revolutionary soldiers, both of whom are objects of dislike and fear to the law-abiding elements.
In the midst of this appalling situation in the north and in the south the Federal Government sits apathetic, ineffective, and either cynically indifferent or stupidly optimistic. This peculiar phase of the situation I believe to be largely due to the character of the President, who is one day a Díaz come again and the next day an apostle of peace; the apologist for important bandits and criminals, and the enemy of monopolies, landholders, and privileged characters and classes. To such an extent has this wavering and unsettled policy been carried that it has lost the President the confidence and support of all classes, and to-day he stands practically alone, sustained only by the sympathy of his numerous family, the administration officeholders, and the useful and established apprehension that the evils which exist are less than those which might be anticipated with his downfall. In important questions vitally involving American interests I have found him sometimes indifferent, sometimes cold and unsympathetic, and frequently unreliable, giving promises with facility but performance economically and sometimes not at all. This circumstance has rendered the protection of our interests, always difficult, increasingly 30, as the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Lascurain, while a most able, courteous, and just officer, apparently has but little influence with the administration, and his protests and promises, while abundantly and I believe sincerely given, rarely produce [Page 831] concrete results. I am discussing thus frankly the character of the Chief Executive, for whom I should have unwavering respect, and to whom I owe unvarying courtesy and sympathy, in order that the Department may fully understand the difficulty of securing justice and protection for our interests in Mexico.
One phase of the situation which is at present giving me most concern is the inability of the Federal Government to enforce its views and wishes on local governments throughout the Republic. Whether this circumstance is due to lack of respect for the Federal Government or to indifference, ignorance, or anti-Americanism on the part of these local officials I am not able to say, but I am deeply impressed with the actual situation and I am acutely sensible of the necessity of taking some step in this particular direction which will end a situation which bids fair, if not ended, to become intolerable. The Department is fully conversant with the number of outrages committed against American citizens, with the increasing frequency of the taking of American lives, with the arrest and imprisonment of Americans on frivolous charges, with their deprivations through the courts of justice of rights and property on pleas devoid of the most elemental merit, but it has had very few, if any, reports from this Embassy, nor, I think, from the consular representatives, of a disposition in the courts to grant exact justice, of the Government to afford ample protection, or with the authorities charged with the execution of the law, to arrest, detain, and fairly try Mexican criminals suspected of the murder of American citizens. I have remonstrated in season and out of season, sometimes in words not compatible with my diplomatic character, but, though promises have been profuse and courtesy uniform, the murderers and the robbers go at large, boasting of their crimes and inviting by their immunity from punishment the commission of other and similar crimes. This phase of the situation here is arousing profound indignation among the Americans resident in Mexico and, if I may judge by the number of letters received by the Embassy and by the utterance of the American press, criticism and a dangerous public opinion in the United States. I can not speak too strongly on this point, as I feel that usual diplomatic methods have failed in impressing this Government with its responsibility, and. I fear that, unless some well-defined and positive course is adopted the injustice, abuses, and murders of American citizens will increase in number.
It must be understood, also, that this administration, while nominally pro-American and suffering to some extent in public opinion because of its supposed pro-Americanism, is really conducting a campaign against American interests in Mexico, and this campaign seems aimed to make the members of the Madero family and the personal and political adherents thereof the beneficiaries of American loss. I know of no American interests in this country which are being attacked by the Executive or the courts which were not legitimately and honestly acquired, but I foresee confiscation, harassment, and dislodgment through suborned judicial decrees of many of our important interests, unless this Government is taught in due season that every American and every American interest in Mexico expects and must receive the same measure of justice that a Mexican or Mexican interest would receive in the United States.
[Page 832]To the confusion and uncertainty as to the future may be added a vague fear as to the attitude of the new Congress which has just been elected. Notwithstanding its protestation of a “hands off” policy, it can not be doubted that the Madero administration has exerted its influence to secure the election of friendly candidates, and that these interferences, as well as some interferences in gubernatorial elections, have aroused a vast amount of resentment which will probably find vigorous expression soon after the convening and organization of the new legislative body. At present the only tangible fact which I have been able to note with certainty is the formation of a definite alliance between the Catholics and the Independents, in opposition to the Government, though what numerical strength this combination will possess is unknown.
The economic situation throughout the country shows no evidence of improvement and in my opinion will grow steadily worse. The Government is reported, and is generally believed to be in severe straits, with rapidly diminishing cash assets, and in the opinion of many competent and well-advised persons its ability to maintain its credit will be, unless conditions greatly change, seriously threatened. Merchants are suffering because there are few buyers; farmers, because their fields have not been sown or cultivated; the poor, because their sources of employment have been cut off; and the foreign commercial element, because of diminishing trade and the timidity of European and American houses.
Our duty and policy in the presence of the distressing situation which exists in Mexico can not, it appears to me, be fully defined at the present time further than that we should assume the distinct position that Ave can not, in view of our international obligations and our obligations to our nationals resident in Mexico, permit an increase in the intolerable conditions which now exist without challenge or protest. The inability to secure adequate protection for American citizens, the unprovoked murder of many Americans, and the failure on the part of the National Government to secure the arrest, detention, and punishment of the murderers, the disposition to attack legally acquired American interests by the Executive and through trumped-up court processes, the arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of Americans on frivolous charges and the failure of local governments to actively remedy such abuses, the savage and barbarous character of the warfare which is being waged should admonish us, it seems to me, that our immediate attitude should be firm, alert, and severe, and that the slightest invasion of American rights or the unprovoked assaults on or killing of Americans should be met with such positive and vigorous protest as will leave no doubt in the minds of the Mexican Government and of the Mexican people as to our intention to see that there shall be no misconception as to our determination, under certain emergencies, to secure prompt justice for every crime committed, and to insist upon fair treatment of very American interest.
I am [etc.]