National Affairs: Closed Portal

• Share

A main trade portal between the U. S. and Mexico is Laredo," Tex. Last week the portal was slammed shut by the removal of the Mexican consulate. Reason: Laredo's District Attorney John A. Vails had attempted to arrest General Plutarco Elias Calles, onetime President of Mexico, on a 1922 murder conspiracy charge. Laredo shopkeepers, hard hit by the loss of Mexican trade, appealed to Governor Dan Moody who, in turn, appealed to Secretary of State Henry Lewis Stimson.

Statesman Stimson was patently annoyed that Governor Moody had allowed Texas to drift into such an international tangle. Already bothered by a bad head cold, he sent the Texas executive a message, promising "to see what, if anything, may be wisely done" and observing further: "The Mexican reason [for the consulate closing] is . . . because they feel that Laredo is not a safe port for their public citizens to pass through. . . . Mexicans find it difficult to understand that you have not found it possible . . . to ameliorate the conduct of legal officers of that country. . . . If any effort can be taken along that line, I wish you would advise me."

In diplomatic language Statesman Stimson was suggesting that Governor Moody remove District Attorney Vails from Office as the price for Mexico's reopening the Laredo portal.