Speech #710175336

Not only has the Mexican Government heartily cooperated with our own Government in its efforts to raise the standard for granting visas by our consuls but that Government has pursued the identical policy in issuing instructions to Mexican consuls abroad. I read from a publication entitled " Industrial and Labor Information." dated June 24. 1929. an article entitled "Immigration Suspended in Mexico." as follows: The President of the Mexican Republic. In exercise of the power conferred on him by the immigration act. has temporarily prohibited the entry into the country of foreign workers without distinction of nationality. This measure came into force on May 1. 1929. According to a circular addressed to Mexican consuls abroad this position was adopted in view of the severe unemployment existing in the country. which has reduced a number of Mexican workers and their families to a condition of destitution. Mexican consuls are required to refuse to emigrants desiring to enter Mexico for the purpose of earning a living by manual labor. the identity card required by the immigration authorities. Let me repeat that Mexico has directed her consuls abroad to do exactly what our Government has directed American consuls abroad to do-.that is. to refuse to visa a passport or to refuse to issue an identity card. so that workers who intended to come to Mexico seeking employment could not enter that country for the lack of necessary credentials. Therefore the Government of Mexico can not possibly have the slightest objection to the regulations Issued by our State Department and to the instructions sent to our consuls in Mexico. because that Government has done the same identical thing with respect to its own consuls throughout the world. Cooperation between nations with respect to laborers living in other countries has been frequent in the past. Many nations have arranged for either the restriction of immigration by mutual consent or provided for mutual agreements that reciprocal advantages may be enjoyed by the working men of one country temporarily residing in the other. I have hoe a list of labor treaties prepared by the legislative reference service of the Library of Congress which I ask to have included in my remarks as an illustration of theconstantly recurring efforts made by various countries for a settlement of the labor difficulties similar to those which have been experienced by the United States and Mexico in recent years.