File No. 812.00/23435.
The Secretary of State to the Special Commissioners.
Washington, May 21, 1914.
The President directs me to say:
“We are pleased and encouraged by the character of the proposal contained in your telegram of last evening. It will be necessary for us to ascertain the actual attitude and environment of Lascurain before forming a judgment and we would appreciate it very much if other names were suggested of men whose connections and sympathies we could at once look up.
[Page 503]“Meantime we hope that this alternative plan may be frankly discussed, namely, the appointment of such a man as Lascurain and the association with him of someone actually chosen by the now victorious party, and of a third man chosen by the two, in order to get away from the apparent succession to Huerta and set up an authority free from former cabinet influences and exceptional enough in the very circumstances of their authority to undertake with a free hand the formulation of the decrees of reform to be ratified by the Congress in due time elected.
“Is it too early to obtain opinions with regard to the scope and character of the agrarian reforms which would be involved?”