812.52/2255: Telegram
The Consul at Ensenada (Smale) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 16—9:30 a.m.]
By courier to San Diego and Western Union. Reference despatch No. 1407 June 30.15 Department is informed that at meeting called by Mixed Agrarian Commission at Mexicali at Lazaro Cardenas Colony in Maneadero Valley today, attended by Governor of Territory, Mixed Agrarian Commission delegate, agent of Agricultural [Page 610] Credit Bank, various military and civil authorities, petitioners for land within said colony, representative of Ventura Ensenada Land Company and by myself as an observer, the Governor and delegate of Mixed Agrarian Commission announced that the solicitude of the petitioners for land in the colony had been acted upon favorably and that provisional grants had been made from the following amounts of land: 2,000 hectares of national lands, 1,800 hectares from Victor Marsh Company, 1,000 hectares from Ventura Ensenada Land Company and 500 hectares from Carl Carr. Judging from my conversation with Governor and Chief of Second Military Zone previous to meeting and to their and other addresses at meeting, the intention of the authorities is as much to deprive foreigners of their use of lands as to assist nationals in bettering their economic condition … Mixed Agrarian Commission agent informed me that representatives of the affected properties have not exercised various of the privileges extended by the agrarian code with respect to presentation of observations and delineation of lands which they might wish to reserve and my study of the case indicates this to be true. My belief is that their legal advisers, possibly through ignorance but probably on account of pressure from local authorities or agrarian elements, have misled their clients. Embassy will be informed by code tomorrow and Department and Embassy will be kept currently informed of developments.
- Not printed.↩