812.00Sonora/432: Telegram
The Consul at Nogales (Altaffer) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:44 p.m.]
Referring to Department’s telegram March 23 [25], 5 [3] p.m.23 requesting specific cases of forced loans and requisitions on the part of rebel leaders to which American citizens object, the following are cited: Pacific Brokerage Company. Nogales, Sonora, Jess Manson, [Page 371] President, contribution demanded 300 pesos; Nogales Brewery, Joseph Wise, majority stockholder, contribution demanding one thousand dollars; Compania Agricola Prima Vera, Ciudad Obregon, in which Americans are stockholders, tractor requisitioned. The latter appealed to this office because the tractor has been taken to Cananea. Many other similar cases exist which are not officially brought to the attention of the Consulate, among them the forced loan of 100,000 pesos just levied on 50 carloads of sugar belonging to the United Sugar Companies at Los Mochis, 70 percent of which is of American ownership. The rebels refused to permit this sugar to be moved from Nogales into the United States until this amount had been paid. Levies are made under the guise of one or another kind of tax.
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