File No. 312.115/209.

Consul Hostetter to the Secretary of State.

No. 737.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of the. Department’s instructions No. 329 of March 24, 1915. I took the matter up with a Mr. Calderón de la Barca, Secretary of State for General Téllez at the time the forced loan was made. He told me that the German citizens were the only ones to take the matter up with their representative in Mexico City, besides which he knew that the Huerta Government had a very friendly feeling for Germany and her subjects; hence the order to return them their money. He said, however, that it was more than possible that, had the other representatives taken the matter up, all of them would have had their loans returned to them. He said he knew of no law in force at the time, more than being foreigners, they should have been exempt.

Louis Hostetter.