It is later provided that as to such property "the ownership of the Nation is inalienable" and that concessions to develop these resources can be granted "under the laws of Mexico only on condition that said resources be regularly developed, and on the further condition that the legal provisions be observed."[1] There are a number of reasons why this new constitutional provision is disturbing to owners of the lands affected and particularly to foreign owners. The nation is declared the owner of the property described and this ownership is declared inalienable. Does this overthrow any previous ownership? It is insisted by the owners of oil properties that the rule applying to petroleum has not been the same as that applying, for example, to gold and silver. The laws of 1884, 1892, and 1909 recognized that petroleum in the subsoil was the property of the owner of the soil. Relying on these assurances the investments in oil properties have been made. To enforce a claim of national ownership of petroleum fields now would be to confiscate the property purchased or at least its most
- ↑ Article 27. See also Frederic R. Kellogg, "The Mexican Oil Problem," Nation, October 5, 1918, and the following collections of documents and translations: "The Mexican Oil Question," n.p.n.d. (1919); "The Mexican Oil Controversy," n. p., October, 1920.
