The Birmingham age-herald., 1919-02-21

was of an arbitrary and confiscatory character and the French note charg- ing that the new taxes 'gravely leopard ize the existence of some of the foreign oil firms, are made public for the first time.
 The compilation, officials said, disclose3 that under the new constitution, Presi- dent Carranza may expel from the couh- try any foreigner when he may deem such action expedient."
 OBJECT TO ROYALTIES
 Statements of American, French and British oil concerns included in the com pilation object particularly to the use or the words royalties and rentals in the various decrees of Carranza and the new constitution Acceptance of the terms of the documents containing the words, the companies assert, would meaa the giving up of titles to the oil lanos and the operation of the properties un- der concessions of the government. Un- der the old constitution the companies contend, they were entitled to all the subsurface products of their property, whereas the new constitution says tha- the subsurface products o fthe land are the inalienabie property of the nation.
 The British note declares that the new tax imposes an appalling charge on the petroleum industry, the result Of Whfch will be that an exaction of tribute on the petroleum industry will exist, hlgner than in any other country of the worto' and concludes with the following woros'
 "For the above reasons his majesty government formally and energetlcaliy protests against the putting lnto eHecl of the provisions of the decree in ques- tion so far as concerns British subjects and British capital, and holds the Mex ican government responsible for all loss and damage which might result to Eng fish subjects and capital as a conse- quence of the decree"
 This note was unanswered until Au- gust 12, when Mexican Foreign Minister Aguilar addressed note to H. A. Cum mings, the British minister, which sa1o the Mexican government could not ac-
 MEXICAN REPLY
 "The Mexican government does not recognize the rights of any foreign country to protest against acts of this nature coming from the right to exer- else interior sovereignty and, in con- sequence cannot accept the responsi- bility which it is pretended will be charged. to her account as supposed damages as a consequence of this leg islation :. ..l. The modern conception of property IS that it is social func tion bound closely to the prosperity Or the state"
 The French note, after pointing out that many French citizens were inter- ested in Mexican oil lands, said:
 They claim that these regulations strict compliance with which might en- tail confiscation, rest on principles of law wholly different from those on which was based the legislation in force when their investments in pe- troleum in Mexico were made. At that time no attempt was made to establish differences between surface rights and those flowing from subsurface owner ship; it is due to this distinction that it has been possible to assess the net taxes which deprive companies of al most all the profits they had hoped to enjoy from the capitals invested. there by gravely jeopardizing. the existence of these concerns"
 Minister Aguilar in replying to the French note adopted a much more con- cilatory tone, declaring that the in- terests of the French stockholders would be protected, but he did not ad- init that the protest was justified.