File No. 822.124/201.
It has been suggested to me verbally by the Minister for Foreign Affairs
that immediately upon the expiration of the Coignet contract the proper
staff of medical officers and engineers be sent to Guayaquil by the
Panama Canal Commission to conduct the survey.
[Inclosure.]
The Foreign Office of
Ecuador to the American
Legation.
[Memorandum.—Translation.]
In view of the memorandum presented by the Chargé d’Affaires of the
United States on March 23rd of the present year, respecting the
sanitation of the port of Guayaquil and its environs, the Government
of Ecuador, recognizing the importance of the suggestions made,
considers that the sanitary condition of Guayaquil implies very
grave and permanent danger to the Panama Canal, and to the economic
results that may accrue therefrom, as it also constitutes very
serious injury to the commercial interests of the Republic of
Ecuador,
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the loss of life
among the natives of which is computed according to the estimates of
the Chargé d’Affaires himself at a thousand per annum, while the
quarantines imposed against Ecuador mean an annual loss of one
million sucres on an average (although respecting this, there are no
reliable statistics)—a sum more than sufficient to cover the
interest on the amount that might be expended on sanitary works in
Guayaquil and environs;
Regarding as true the remark that no sanitary works have been carried
out without the direct supervision of the respective Governments;
and
Considering it necessary that the sanitation of Guayaquil and its
environs must be so far efficient as not to run counter to the
sanitary convenience of the Canal—
It would be desirable that the Panama Canal Commission take charge of
the work of the sanitation of Guayaquil and its environs at cost
price, without handing it over to companies of speculators, whose
intervention would increase or augment the price in proportion to
the profits, apart from the possible and prejudicial economy in the
quality and quantity of the materials employed, which would result
in serious detriment to the efficiency of the sanitation.
Said work should consist of the provision of potable water in
sufficient quantity, as, for example, a minimum of seventy million
liters daily; complete drains with the necessary mains; receptacles
and piping in the streets of the city; the paving of the latter and
of the side-walks, etc.
For the specifications of the sanitary works, a mixed commission
could be appointed, with members in equal numbers, one-half taken
from the Sanitary Commission and the other half appointed by the
Government of Ecuador.
The employees of the sanitation works and their number could be
designated by said mixed commission, which would determine the
quality and quantity of the materials employed, and undertake to
contract the debts and credits for the purchase of the materials
used in the work.
Should the Coignet contract of October 5th, 1911, published in the
“Registro Oficial”, No. 32, expire, the revenues set apart by said
law for the work of sanitation could be handed over to the Panama
Canal Commission on its direct responsibility, and said Commission
should give account of the correct and honest disbursement of the
funds, which, by virtue of said law, might be handed over to it.
Said Canal Commission should hand in its accounts together with
invoices and bills of the suppliers or manufacturers of materials,
etc.
The amounts collected or to be collected under the law of October
5th, 1911, by which funds are set aside for the Sanitation of
Guayaquil, shall be handed over as aforesaid, to the Panama Canal
Commission, which shall give a receipt or receipts for same; and
said Commission by virtue of that fact, would be held responsible
for the loss, undue expenditure or embezzlement of said amounts.
If because of some unforeseen event not within the control of the
Government of Ecuador the said funds should not be delivered to the
Canal Commission, or if the Canal Commission should desire to hasten
the work of sanitation out of proportion to the receipt of said
funds, the Government of the United States might receive from the
Government of Ecuador bonds at par, bearing interest at 5% with 1%
of amortization, said bonds to be cancelled by the said funds.
The agreement herein contemplated should cover all the time necessary
for paying off the obligations arising from the work of sanitation
of Guayaquil and its environs, and for saving the Canal Commission
from all financial responsibility.
The employes and agents of the proposed mixed commission should be
removable by the Government of Ecuador, if they or any of them
should justifiably become objectionable to that Government.
Whatever the total cost of the sanitation of Guayaquil and its
environs (comprising, as already said, a sufficient provision of
potable water, distributing system, reservoirs, main conduits,
street paving, sidewalks, etc.) the Government of Ecuador cannot
devote to the enterprise a greater amount than that specified in the
law of October 5, 1911, embodying the Coignet contract.
In order to hasten the work the Panama Canal Commission might at once
send its engineers to inspect the premises and draw up the plans;
said engineers would be paid by the Canal Commission, the Government
of Ecuador paying half of the amount thus expended at the time of
the beginning of the work of sanitation.
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The financial control of the work would be wholly in the hands of the
mixed commission, and all accounts passed upon by courts of Cuentas
Ecuatorianas in conformity with the laws of the Republic of
Ecuador.
All the foregoing stipulations are without prejudice to the rights
acquired by the contractor Edmundo Coignet by virtue of the said law
of October 5, 1911, provided that the claims of said contractor in
no case injure the interests of the Republic of Ecuador, whose
responsibility in this respect should be completely guarded.
Foreign Office,
Quito, May
6, 1912.
