Office of the Historian

File No. 812.00/12313.

Secretary Dodge to the Secretary of State.

No. 21.]
Special Commission of the President of
the United States, Near the Mediators,
Niagara Falls, N. Y., June 17, 1914.

Sir: I have the honor to enclose to you herewith a copy of a memorandum in which, for greater convenience, the plan submitted by the Mediators to serve as a basis for discussion and the suggestions for modifications of this plan contained in your telegram of the 3rd instant, have been placed in parallel columns.

I have [etc.]

H. Pergival Dodge
.
[Inclosure.]

[Untitled]

[Page 541]
mediators’ plan. united states plan.
I. I.
In order to effect a transfer of power from the hands of General Huerta to a new government and conforming to the machinery provided by the Constitution, according to which the Minister of Foreign Relations assumes the Executive power in the event of the inability to act or resignation of the Chief Executive, General Huerta will appoint a person to take charge of the portfolio of Foreign Relations now vacant, and thereupon submit his own resignation to the Congress and turn the reins of Government over to the Minister of Foreign Relations. The latter would in his turn organize his Cabinet distributing all of the portfolios among four members who would constitute with him the Board of Government. In order to effect a transfer of power to a Provisional Government General Huerta will withdraw and the Provisional Government to be organized as hereinafter provided shall be recognized at Mexico City.
II. II.
The personnel of the Board of Government shall be selected on the following basis: One member who shall be the Provisional President of the Republic [Page 540] to be selected from neutral element, and whose honor and standing shall be so high as to remove him from any partisan objection; two members to be selected respectively from elements of high standing and representatives of each of the two great factions into which Mexican political opinion is at the present time divided; and the other two members to be persons of recognized honor and general acceptance without reflecting particularly the conflicting tendencies.

The Provisional Government to consist of:

One member of high standing and honor who shall be the Provisional President of the Republic and be selected from the Constitutionalists;

Three persons of high standing and honor to constitute a Board of Elections; two of such Board to be Constitutionalists and one a person who has refrained from active participation in recent affairs and who is the representative of other political elements.
III. III.
The constitution of this Board to be accompanied by an immediate grant of a general and absolute amnesty to all Mexicans. The constitution of the Provisional Government to be accompanied by the immediate grant of general and absolute amnesty to all Mexicans for political offenses.
IV. IV.
The first and most fundamental duty of this Board of Government would be an immediate call to election for President of the Republic and members of Congress so that the operation of the Mexican public powers should be placed on a constitutional basis within the shortest reasonable time possible. There being no electoral law of a general and permanent character, these elections shall be governed by the provisions of the law of May 22, 1912, which the Board of Government shall expressly adapt thereto. The Board of Elections shall not be associated with the Provisional President in any administrative matters, but shall have complete authority to arrange for and conduct the elections. The first and most fundamental duty of the Board of Elections, after the organization of the Provisional Government and the promulgation of reforms by the President, shall be, within a reasonable time and on a date to be proclaimed by them after conference with the Provisional President, to call election for President of the Republic and Members of Congress so that the operation of the Mexican public powers shall be placed on a constitutional basis within the shortest reasonable time possible. There being no electoral law of a general and permanent character, these selections shall be governed by the provisions of the law of May 22, 1912, which the Board of Elections shall expressly adapt thereto. Neither the Provisional President nor the members of the Board of Elections shall be candidates for office at any such elections.
V. V.
The Board of Government will be requested to devote special attention to the following problems:
  • The agrarian question;
  • Electoral legislation;
  • Laws of compulsory primary education and agricultural education;
  • Organization of the necessary schools and experimental institutions.
 The Provisional President shall be pledged to promptly formulate and promulgate at the earliest possible time such agrarian, political and electoral reforms as are necessary to quiet the revolutionary agitations of the Republic.
VI. VI.
The Board of Government will likewise be requested to devote special attention to the advisability of taking steps for the creation of international commissions for the solution of the claims of foreigners for damages due to military acts or to the acts of the national authorities. A special commission would be organized on similar bases to settle the claims of nationals.
It is understood that the Government of the United States will not present any claim whatsoever for a war indemnity.		 The Provisional President will also be pledged to devote special attention to the advisability of taking steps for the creation of international commissions for the solution of the claims of foreigners for damages due to military acts or the acts of the national authorities. A special commission would be organized on similar bases to settle the claims of nationals.
It is understood that the Government of the United States will not present any claim whatsoever for a war indemnity.
VII. VII.
The Provisional Government of Mexico, organized in the form stated, shall be recognized without delay by the Government of the United States and by the Governments of the three mediating countries. The Provisional Government of Mexico, organized in the form stated, shall be recognized by the Government of the United States and by the Governments of the three mediating countries as soon as it is made evident that the plan is to be carried out as agreed upon.
VIII. VIII.
The American forces of occupation shall proceed to evacuate the Mexican territory they now occupy fifteen days after the date the Provisional Government notifies the Government of the United States that it is organized through regular channels or through the Mediators, and such evacuation shall be completed within a period not exceeding thirty days, unless the Provisional Government shall, through its Chancellery, give its consent to an extension of this period. The time and manner of evacuation by the forces of the United States In Mexico to be a matter of agreement between the United States and the Provisional Government.