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SANITARY CONVENTION OF 1905.

Ambassador Thompson to the Acting Secretary of State.

No. 119.]

AMERICAN EMBASSY, Mexico, July 10, 1906. SIR: Referring to my dispatch No. 99, of the 20th ultimo, in which I forwarded a copy of a note addressed by me on that date to the foreign office, advising the Mexican Government that with the advice and consent of the Senate the President of the United States had ratified the sanitary convention, signed ad referendum at Washington on October 14, 1905, and stating that it was the desire of the department that some understanding should be reached by the signatory Governments as to the manner of exchange of ratifications, deposit of ratifications, or notice of ratifications, for which it appears the convention had failed to make any provision, I now inclose for the department's information a copy and translation of a note addressed to me by Mr. Mariscal, dated the 29th ultimo, in which he expresses the view that each Government signatory to the convention in question send notice of its ratification to the Government of the United States, and suggests that that Government, in its turn, advise the other signatory Governments of the deposits of such notice, etc. I have, etc.,

D. E. THOMPSON.

[Inclosure. Translation.]

The Minister for Foreign Affairs to Ambassador Thompson.

DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS,
Mexico, June 29, 1906.

Mr. AMBASSADOR: I opportunely received your excellency's note dated the 20th instant, in which you have been pleased to inform me that the President of the United States of America, with the consent of the Senate, ratified, on May 29 last, the sanitary convention signed at Washington on October 14, 1905, of which the embassy transmitted, on December 9 of the same year, a copy of the Spanish and another of the English versions, properly certified.

Your excellency has also been pleased to inquire, on account of this ratification, whether the Mexican Government would, when the time comes, deposit with the Government of the United States the instrument of its ratification, inasmuch as it has been the custom in the case of other similar conventions, to the end that if the above be observed your excellency's Government may send notifications of the deposit, through the diplomatic channel, to the other signatory governments.

The matter having been studied with the proper care, I beg to say to your excellency that, in the opinion of this Government, it appears sufficient for the effects sought that each Government signatory to the convention, or which, having not signed the name, may adhere to it, send notice of its ratification to the above convention to that of the United States, mentioning the date on which the ratification may have been made, and that the Government of the United States, in its turn, notify the other signatory governments of said fact. Such was the course followed concerning the conventions agreed upon during the Second International Conference, and, while the procedure is much more simple, the same filled the purpose sought in such cases. If, notwithstanding what I have said, your excellency's Government should desire that the instruments of ratification be deposited with it, the Government of Mexico will see no impediment in issuing and transmitting its own when the time comes for it to ratify and promulgate the above-mentioned convention.

It affords, etc.,

IGNO. MARISCAL.

The Acting Secretary of State to Ambassador Thompson.

No. 71.]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
Washington, July 20, 1906.

SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch, No. 119, of the 10th instant, on the subject of the ratification by this Government of the sanitary convention signed ad referendum at Washington on October 14, 1905.

The procedure which Minister Mariscal suggests will be satisfactory to this Government, namely, "that each government signatory to the convention, or which, not having signed the same, may adhere to it, send notice of its ratification to the above convention to that of the United States, mentioning the date on which the ratification may have been made, and that the Government of the United States, in turn, notify the other signatory governments of said fact."

I am, etc.,

ROBERT BACON.

CONVENTION BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND MEXICO PROVIDING FOR THE EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF THE WATERS OF THE RIO GRANDE FOR IRRIGATION PURPOSES.

Signed at Washington, May 21, 1906.

Ratification advised by the Senate, June 26, 1906.
Ratified by the President, December 26, 1906.

Ratified by Mexico, January 5, 1907.

Ratifications exchanged at Washington, January 16, 1907.
Proclaimed, January 16, 1907.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas a convention between the United States of America and the United States of Mexico, providing for the equitable distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande for irrigation purposes, and to remove all causes of controversy between them in respect thereto, was concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at Washington on the twenty-first day of May, one thousand nine hundred and six, the original of which convention, being in the English and Spanish languages, is word for word as follows:

The United States of America and the United States of Mexico, being desirous to provide for the equitable distribution of the waters of the Rio Grande for irrigation purposes, and to remove all causes of controversy between them in respect thereto, and being moved by considerations of international comity, have resolved to conclude a convention for these purposes and have named as their plenipotentiaries:

The President of the United States of America, Elihu Root, Secretary of State of the United States; and the President of the United States of Mexico, His Excellency Señor Don Joaquín D. Casasús, ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the United States

of Mexico at Washington, who, after having exhibited their respective full powers, which were found to be in good and due form, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE I.

After the completion of the proposed storage dam near Engle, N. Mex., and the distributing system auxiliary thereto, and as soon as water shall be available in said system for the purpose, the United States shall deliver to Mexico a total of 60,000 acre-feet of water annually, in the bed of the Rio Grande at the point where the head works of the Acequia Madre, known as the Old Mexican Canal, now exist above the city of Juarez, Mexico.

ARTICLE II.

The delivery of the said amount of water shall be assured by the United States and shall be distributed through the year in the same proportions as the water supply proposed to be furnished from the said irrigation system to lands in the United States in the vicinity of El Paso, Tex., according to the following schedule, as nearly as may be possible:

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In case, however, of extraordinary drought or serious accident to the irrigation system in the United States, the amount delivered to the Mexican canal shall be diminished in the same proportion as the water delivered to lands under said irrigation system in the United States.

ARTICLE III.

The said delivery shall be made without cost to Mexico, and the United States agrees to pay the whole cost of storing the said quantity of water to be delivered to Mexico, of conveying the same to the international line, of measuring the said water, and of delivering it in the river bed above the head of the Mexican canal. It is understood that the United States assumes no obligation beyond the delivering of the water in the bed of the river above the head of the Mexican canal.

ARTICLE IV.

The delivery of water as herein provided is not to be construed as 2 recognition by the United States of any claim on the part of Mexico to said waters; and it is agreed that in consideration of such delivery of water Mexico waives any and all claims to the waters of the Rio Grande for any purpose whatever between the head of the present Mexican canal and Fort Quitman, Tex., and also declares fully settled and disposed of and hereby waives all claims heretofore asserted or existing, or that may hereafter arise or be asserted, against the United States on account of any damages alleged to have been sustained by the owners of land in Mexico by reason of the diversion by citizens of the United States of waters of the Rio Grande.

ARTICLE V.

The United States in entering into this treaty does not thereby concede, expressly or by implication, any legal basis for any claims heretofore asserted or which may be hereafter asserted by reason of any losses incurred by the owners of land in Mexico due or alleged to be due to the diversion of the waters of the Rio Grande within the United States; nor does the United States in any way concede the establishment of any general principle or precedent by the concluding of this treaty. The understanding of both parties is that the arrangement contemplated by this treaty extends only to the portion of the Rio Grande which forms the international boundary, from the head of the Mexican canal down to Fort Quitman, Tex., and in no other

case.

ARTICLE VI.

The present convention shall be ratified by both contracting parties in accordance with their constitutional procedure, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington as soon as possible.

In witness whereof, the respective plenipotentiaries have signed the convention both in the English and Spanish languages and have thereunto affixed their seals.

Done in duplicate at the city of Washington, this twenty-first day of May, one thousand nine hundred and six.

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And whereas the said convention has been duly ratified on both parts, and the ratifications of the two governments were exchanged in the city of Washington on the sixteenth day of January, one thousand nine hundred and seven;

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, have caused the said convention to be made public, to the end that the same and every article and clause thereof may be observed and fulfilled with good faith by the United States and the citizens thereof.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States of America to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this sixteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and [SEAL.] seven, and of the independence of the United States of America the one hundred and thirty-first.

By the President:

ELIHU ROOT,

Secretary of State.

THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

No. 2.]

OFFICIAL RECEPTION OF AMBASSADOR THOMPSON.

Ambassador Thompson to the Secretary of State.

AMERICAN EMBASSY,
Mexico, March 9, 1906.

SIR: As you were informed in my telegram of the 2d instant, I arrived here on that day. The 4th being Sunday, on the 5th I caused to be delivered to the minister for foreign affairs office copies of my letter of credence as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and my predecessor's letter of recall; also copy of the remarks which I proposed to make to the President on the occasion of my formal presentation. This was done by means of my note of that date to the minister.

On the same day the minister for foreign affairs informed me in a note, received the 7th instant, which I acknowledged at once, that the President would formally receive me on Thursday, the 8th, at noon, and that the "introducer of ambassadors" would visit me on Wednesday to inform me of the programme for the following day, the day of the reception.

This programme consisted of two of the President's carriages, accompanied by the "introducer of ambassadors," two of the President's personal aides, and a mounted escort of about 25 men, coming to my place of residence a few minutes before 12 o'clock on the day of the reception, receiving there myself, Secretary McCreery, and Major Paxton, military attaché, and conducting us to the National Palace. The ride from my house to the Palace was through the principal street of the city and the entrance to the Palace grounds was between two lines of soldiers.

The entrance to the hall of ambassadors, where the President, his cabinet, chief military officers, and Palace guards were stationed, was through a series of splendid halls and rooms, the sides of some of which were lined with soldiers. The hall of ambassadors in which the reception occurred was crowded with spectators, both Americans and Mexicans, all of the spectators standing back of two lines of Palace guards, the two lines of guards making the way through which myself and those attending me approached the President and his cabinet. The salutations on entering and approaching the President and his cabinet were as usual, as was the reading of my address, followed by the President's response, and as also were the introductions to the members of the cabinet after the reading of the addresses. My talk with the President after the formal ceremony was most cordial, he expressing very great satisfaction at having me in Mexico

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