concessions filed in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Labor or its Petroleum Agencies prior to the date of the promulgation of these Regulations must be ratified by the parties concerned within sixty days counted from that same date in the manner and in the offices determined by the said Regulations and at the same time the declaration of the office and date of filing of the first application shall be made so that upon the substantiation of those facts the ratification may be considered as submitted on the date of the first application.] [Article 8. The provisions of the Regulations in force up to date will continue to apply to every matter that is not inconsistent with these Regulations pending the issuance of the regulations on petroleum work.] The following Transitory Articles are added: Article 9. In order to carry out the provisions of Article 15, amended, of the Law, there shall be admitted petitions for confirmatory concessions in the period indicated by the same article, even when the lands may have been the object of prior confirmatory petitions presented by the surface owners, when the new confirmations are requested by the lessees or cessionaires; and vice versa. Article 10. During the period of ninety days, counted from the date on which these amendments go into effect, there shall be suspended the admission of petitions for ordinary petroleum concessions on free lands, as well as the tramitación of those already accepted and of those presented based on Articles 13 of the Law and 158 of these Regulations. On the expiration of the ninety days, the substantiation of the petitions suspended shall be concluded and the admission of ordinary petitions shall be renewed; but always provided both the former and the latter refer to lands as to which until that moment a confirmatory petition may not have been formulated. The titles which may be issued in respect of those petitions shall contain a clause in which it is stated that their granting does not prejudice the confirmable rights which might exist in the lands they cover and which may have been invoked in due form in the remainder of the term established in Article 15, amended, of the Law. Article 11. In every case in which within the year indicated by Article 15, amended, of the Law there is presented a petition for confirmation on lands asked for in an ordinary concession or (a petition) of those based upon Article 13 of the Law, or as to which titles have already been issued in consequence of a petition of one or the other kind, the substantiation of the petitions in process (en tramitación) shall be suspended and the effects of the titles issued (shall be suspended) pending the tramitación of the file of the confirmatory petition. If the latter prospers and the respective concession is therefore issued, the prior petition shall be declared unfounded, whether ordinary or based upon denouncement, when it might affect the same lands, or the title which upon the basis of one of these petitions may have been already granted. Article 12. The companies or private individuals who may have in their favor rights of those specified in Article 14 of the Law and the confirmation of which may not have been requested in the year 1926, shall be able to exercise them directly by means of a confirmatory petition or in the form of opposition to the petitions for ordinary concessions which may be presented, or to ordinary ones and those derived from Article 13 of the Law already in tramitación and of which they may have knowledge. For the latter purpose the term of opposition shall be considered amplified for the whole period of Article 15, amended, of the Law and the substantiation of the ordinary petition or one based upon denouncement, regarding which opposition may be formulated, shall not be suspended. Therefore, I order it to be printed, published, circulated and given due compliance. Given in the Palace of the Executive Power of the Union in Mexico on the 27th day of March, 1928. (Signed) By the President. (Countersigned) By the Secretary of Industry, Commerce and Labor. [Enclosure 2] Statement Handed to the Press, March 27, 1928, on Behalf of Ambassador Morrow 22a These Regulations when taken with the Supreme Court decision handed down November 17, 1927, the legislation passed by the Mexican Congress on December 26, 1927, and promulgated on January 10, 1928, and the letter of Minister Morones issued on January 9, 1928, evidence the determination by the judicial, the executive, the legislative, and the administrative departments of the Mexican Government to recognize all rights held by foreigners in oil properties prior to the adoption of the 1917 Constitution. The Supreme Court decision declared that the cutting down of the oil companies' rights to a fifty-year period was unconstitutional. In connection with that decision the Court said that "the confirmation of a right is the express recognition of the same, to limit it is to modify that right instead of confirming it." Following this decision the President asked Congress is [to] modify the law of 1925 to con2 For release in the morning papers of Wednesday, March 28, 1928. form with the Constitution as interpreted by the Court. The committee of Congress reporting upon this law said: "To confirm a right is to recognize it expressly in its whole extent and with the conditions inherent therein in such a way that no restriction whatever can be established with regard to the extent or conditions of the right which is confirmed." After the legislation had been passed certain oil companies still had doubts as to whether those who took confirmatory concessions under the new law would get a new grant or have their old rights confirmed. Because of these doubts Minister Morones, the head of the Department of Industry, Commerce and Labor, wrote a letter in answer to an inquiry from an oil company, stating that such confirmatory concession would operate "as the recognition of rights which will continue in force subject only to police regulations." President Calles, on the advice of Minister Morones, has now issued new Regulations modifying the old Regulations in accordance with the decision of the Supreme Court and the new act of Congress. These new Regulations make clear what Minister Morones had already made clear in his letter, that those who take confirmatory concessions under the amended law get a confirmation of their old rights rather than a new grant of rights. The form of confirmatory concession as set out in the new Regulations expressly declares that it is to "operate as a recognition of acquired rights which continue in force." There remains, of course, the determination of what rights the oil companies had on May 1, 1917. While there may well be honest differences on this point, there is no reason why such differences, if any, cannot be satisfactorily settled through the due operations of the Mexican governmental departments and the Mexican courts. The changes in the Mexican laws and regulations have been made by the voluntary act of the Republic of Mexico. In the informal conversations which have taken place, Minister Morones and his official staff have approached the whole matter with a disposition to frame the Regulations in such a way as to meet such essential points as are susceptible of adjustment by general provisions. Statement Issued to the Press by the Department of State, March 27, 1928 The petroleum regulations just promulgated by President Calles constitute executive action which completes the process beginning with the decision made by the judicial branch of the Mexican Government on November 17, 1927, and followed by the enactment of the new petroleum law by the legislative branch on December 26th last. Together these steps voluntarily taken by the Mexican Government would appear to bring to a practical conclusion the discussions which began ten years ago with reference to the effect of the Mexican Constitution and laws upon foreign oil companies. The Department feels, as does Ambassador Morrow, that such questions, if any, as may hereafter arise can be settled through the due operation of the Mexican administrative departments and the Mexican courts. 812.6363/2549 Telegram The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Mexico (Morrow) WASHINGTON, April 16, 1928—1 p. m. 101. For the Ambassador. New York Times of today carries despatch from Mexico City dated April 14th to the effect that the Huasteca Petroleum Company has advised the Mexican Government through H. N. Branch that it accepts the recent petroleum regulations. Please telegraph whether this report is correct. KELLOGG 812.6363/2550: Telegram The Ambassador in Mexico (Morrow) to the Secretary of State MEXICO, April 16, 1928–6 p. m. 112. Department's telegram 101 for the [Ambassador]. We are advised by Branch that newspaper report as set out by you is correct. Branch was received by President Calles at 1 o'clock Saturday, April 14, and informed the President of the Huasteca Company's intention to make application at once for confirmatory concessions under the amended petroleum law and regulations. MORROW CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO SAFEGUARDING LIVESTOCK INTERESTS THROUGH THE PREVENTION OF INFECTIOUS AND CONTAGIOUS DISEASES, SIGNED MARCH 16, 1928 611.125/63 The Ambassador in Mexico (Sheffield) to the Secretary of State No. 2061 MEXICO, April 13, 1926. [Received April 23.] SIR: Referring to my despatch No. 499 of April 6, 1925,23 in which I alluded to the purpose of the United States Department of Agriculture to bring about a conference between representatives of the American and the Mexican Departments of Agriculture in order to discuss and formulate an agreement on various matters of mutual interest, I have the honor herewith to enclose for the Department's confidential information copy of a letter from Doctor S. O. Fladness, Agricultural Commissioner here, to the Mexican Minister of Agriculture, dated April 5, last,24 together with translation of the reply of the Minister under date April 9.24 The Department will observe from this correspondence that it confirms an oral understanding arrived at in a conference between Doctor Fladness and Señor León in the recent past as a result of which it was informally agreed that, should the United States Government through diplomatic channels extend an invitation to the Mexican Government to send representatives to such a conference with representatives of the United States Department of Agriculture, the invitation would be accepted so far as the Minister of Agriculture could assume personal responsibility. In this connection I beg leave to invite the Department's attention to the fact that I learn from Doctor Fladness that, should such a conference come about, the Mexican Government may desire to include in the agenda questions of plant quarantine and similar matters not necessarily connected with the aims of the United States Department of Agriculture in holding the conference. Doctor Fladness has also suggested that in his recent conversation with the Mexican Minister of Agriculture the latter mentioned in passing the possibility of inviting Canada to attend the conference; in the opinion of the American Agricultural Commissioner this would complicate matters considerably and probably greatly delay the making of arrangements for the conference. As recently reported, the Mexican Government has accepted the invitation of the United States Department of Agriculture to send a representative to Washington for the purpose of studying the cattle industry and Doctor Fladness informs me that it may be advisable to discuss the preliminaries of the proposed conference with this representative, Doctor José Figueroa, during his forthcoming visit in the United States, which is expected to take place upon his return from the Argentine Republic. In view of the importance of the proposed conference and the probable desire of the Mexican Government to take up in connection with it questions which the United States' authorities may not wish to discuss, it is respectfully suggested that this phase of the question be given due consideration. I have [etc.] 24 Not printed. JAMES R. SHEFFIELD |