File No. 819.77/285
No. 1431
American Legation,
Panama,
June 16, 1917.
[Inclosure—Translation]
The Minister for Foreign
Affairs to Minister Price
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
acknowledge the receipt of your kind note F. O. No. 427, of the
2d instant, in which your excellency again refers to the
concession granted by the last National Assembly to Mr. Basil
Burns Duncan, authorizing him to construct a railroad along the
Atlantic coast of the Isthmus, crossing the section of Panama
situated between the Panama Canal and Costa Rica.
Your excellency declares that in the correspondence which took
place last year between Mr. Duncan and the Government of the
United States, the latter agreed not to oppose the making of
this contract, to which it had objected on two previous
occasions, on condition that there be eliminated therefrom the
authorization to construct branches which might be undesirable
from a certain point of view; and your excellency calls
attention to the fact that, although nothing was discussed as to
the building of a branch to Penonomé, the right to carry this
out appears in Article 2 of the concession granted to Mr.
Duncan, mentioning later that you do not wish by this remark to
indicate that the Legation does not agree to the general sense
of the concession which permits the construction of branches at
whatever time, and in whatever direction for whatever length,
provided that a written request be made to the Executive Power
of Panama.
[Page 1194]
Your excellency ends by stating that your Government understands
that the provisions of Article 2, bearing in mind the
recognition made by this Government on previous occasions of the
interest of the United States of America in this matter, give it
the right to ask for a formal declaration that the use of the
authorization incorporated in said concession for the
construction of branches will not be permitted by His Excellency
the President of Panama, without his having come to an agreement
with the Government of the United States.
In reply, I have the honor to inform your excellency formally,
complying with instructions of the Most Excellent President of
the Republic, that the Executive Power will not make use of the
prerogative which appears in Article 2 of the concession under
discussion, without having first come to an agreement with the
Government of your excellency.
I thank your excellency for the copy of the letter of Mr. Duncan
which you kindly sent me, and gladly avail myself [etc.]
