Call For Action In Mexico.

New York Times 100 years ago today, September 7, 1912:
Big American Interests Appeal to U. S. Government for Protection.
    WASHINGTON, Sept. 6.— American Ambassador Wilson was to-day instructed by the State Department to urge upon the Mexican Government the great need of Federal troops in Northern Mexico to protect Americans.
    Frantic appeals to the department tell of dangers threatening Americans, and call for help. In the majority of cases they come from mining companies located in the northern States. More than a hundred business concerns have made representations of the seriousness of the situation.
    John M. Bishop, President of the Manhattan Exploring Company, 52 Broadway, yesterday sent this telegram to President Taft:
    You will recall me having, through Mr. Carnegie, called on you in April, 1911, concerning the Mexican revolution. Jack Smith, my partner in the Sonora mines, writes details of horrible conditions existing in Sonora. At the lime of writing, he had just escaped from the mines after two days' fighting with rebels who tried to loot the camp.
    In a desperate foray, Smith killed twelve rebels, finally escaping after nightfall. He writes the native women and children are starving, and begs me to send money to buy food for them. You will recall that I predicted to you in 1911 that starvation in Mexico would ere long appeal to American charity. The situation is horrible beyond words.
    Please read Jack Smith's story in to-day's New York newspapers. Can you not order relief expedition to rescue Smith and other Americans in Sonora? Your act would tremendously increase admiration for the Stars and Stripes. With great respect,
        (Signed) JOHN M. BISHOP.
    Mr. Bishop also cabled $500 to the company's manager at Hermosillo, the capital of Sonora, to feed their people in the Aqui Valley district.
    Conditions have now reached a point in Western Mexico, especially the States of Sonora and Chihuahua, that the men interested in mining and other enterprises there believe that this Government should interfere, not with a view of conquest, but to extend protection to American interests. The Government of Mexico, it was said by more than one mining man yesterday, is apparently unable to afford that protection, and because of the mountainous character of the country rebel bands may harass the Government for years to come.
    The letter of J. D. Smith, the American who is single-handed fighting for his life in the heart of the revolutionary district in Sonora, to John M. Bishop, President of the Manhattan Exploring Company, 52 Broadway, and which was printed in yesterday's Times, aroused much interest, and during the day a number of mining men called at the office of Mr. Bishop to get the latest news from Mr. Smith.
    "When is somebody going to start something?" they asked.
    Mr. Bishop said that these men, along with many others, say that unless something is done by this Government to protect its citizens and their property in Mexico they will start an invasion themselves.
    "What is now necessary is for this Government to become stirred up over our affairs in Mexico," said Mr. Bishop. "It is time for the Administration to do things. I know that the border is lined with men who are anxious to get into Mexico. I believe that an army of 10,000 men could be raised in Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico in no time. They will start something unless this Government does.
    "My prediction is that conditions in Mexico will never be any better until some strong power intervenes. There is a strong feeling among the better class of Mexicans that there should be, intervention, and that until that happens conditions will be bad. Understand, I do not mean intervention with a view of conquest, but to straighten out matters, and to preserve peace and order.
    "Smith is in a serious predicament, and before this he may have been stood up against a wall and shot to death. He has very little chance to get out of the country, and his only chance is to hide in the hills. The men who have called at my office know him, and they believe he should be rescued. If the Government doesn't do it they will start something.
    "It is surprising that this Administration does not see the reason for doing something. Such an action would increase the admiration for the flag. It does seem strange that an American in Mexico is not afforded the same protection there that the Mexican receives in this country.
    "If Mexico cannot afford that protection, it is up to our country to do it.
    "In the Aqui River Valley all the Americans are now out that could get out. There are only about 100 left in that district. Property, engines, and machinery have been left at the mercy of the revolutionary bands.
    "I told the President a year ago that there was no doubt that Mexico would be at the point of famine, and now Smith writes that women and children are subsisting upon weeds and grasses."
    John Hays Hammond and H. P. Whitney are among those interested in the Aqui Delta Land and Water Company, an enterprise which owns 600,000 acres of fertile lands in the Aqui River Valley. It is the intention of the company to irrigate and so improve this country as to make it the garden spot of Mexico. Very few of the contemplated plans, it is said, have been carried out owing to the troublous times in the State of Sonora.
    At the office of Mr. Hammond, at Broadway and Rector Street, it was said yesterday that there would be no surprise over the urging of this Government to intervene to protect American interests.
    "Conditions in Mexico for a year have been so bad that intervention of some sort had long been contemplated." said an official of the company. It was pointed out that the company was not a mining concern, and that the plea for intervention would have no more significance with the company than it would with any other American concern that wanted to see its interests protected. That interest, it was said, was not in affairs in Mexico, but simply in the failure to extend proper protection to American interests.
    Word was received by the Phelps-Dodge Company, 99 John Street, yesterday, announcing that communication had been opened between Douglas, Ariz., and Nacozari, where the company's mines are located. The railroad built between these points is controlled by men interested in the Phelps-Dodge Company, but it is a separate concern.
    "The road is still disabled," said James Douglas, President of the company. "Sixteen of the small bridges have been destroyed, and they are now being repaired. No damage was done to our property and no lives were lost at Nacozari. There are now no rebels so far as we know in that vicinity. There have always been at least twenty-five soldiers stationed at Nacozari, and at times there have been fifty men there."
    An officer of the company said that it had not joined in a request for intervention. It was said by another man connected with the company that it would be a good thing if the United States could police the lines of the railroad as has been done in Nicaragua. It would be a good thing if this could be done without offending Mexico and hurting her pride. If Mexico or this country could strongly police the arteries of travel, it was said, the rebellion would soon degenerate into small guerrilla bands in the mountains.
    At the office of the Greene Copper Company, an official said that nothing was known of a general protest to this Government to protect American interests in Mexico, but that such a request was not unreasonable or unexpected. At Cananea, where the company's plant is located, it was said that advices had been received that the Federal troops were now there.