relations. Finally, a bankers' international committee headed by Thomas Lamont of J. P. Morgan & Co., who was also a member of the Association for Protection of American Rights, arranged a detailed plan for the payment of the Mexican national debts,[1] after which Secretary of State Hughes announced that an informal commission would hold conferences for adjustment of differences. This commission, consisting of two Mexican and two United States representatives, came to no formal agreement excepting the claims conventions. The final statement of the Mexican commissioners, however, signified the intention of the Mexican executive to carry out the principle established by the decisions of the Mexican Supreme Court in regard to oil claims acquired prior to 1917, namely: that such claims should be validated in case owners had performed, before the promulgation of the new constitution, some positive act towards extracting the oil. The United States comissioners stated that their government reserved all rights of its citizens in respect to the subsoil, as acquired under the laws existing before the promulgation of the 1917 constitution. The Mexican commissioners recognized the right of the United States Government to do this but reserved the rights of the Mexican Government, under its laws, as to all lands in connection with which no positive act as specified had been performed.[2]
Meanwhile, oil companies operating in Mexico were refusing to pay their taxes. In 1922, the British companies decided to pay up and conform to the law and the United States companies were obliged
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