Panama for the constitutional term from 1912 to 1916, took possession of his high office on the first of this month. With feelings [etc.], JUAN BRIN. File No. 819.001 P 82/4. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs to the Secretary of State. No. 3210.] [Translation.] FOREIGN OFFICE, Panama, October 14, 1912. MR. SECRETARY: Accompanied by the customary copy, I have the honor to transmit to your excellency the autograph letter which His Excellency Dr. Belisario Porras addresses to His Excellency W. H. Taft, President of the United States, announcing to him that he has assumed the presidency of the Republic of Panama. I beg your excellency to be kind enough to have the mentioned sealed envelope reach its high destination and to accept for it my most cordial thanks. I avail [etc.] E. T. LEFEVRE, [Inclosure. Translation.] The President of Panama to the President. PRESIDENTIAL PALACE, Panama, October 1, 1912. GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND: I fulfill the pleasant duty of communicating to Your Excellency that, having been called by the vote of my fellow citizens to occupy the First Magistracy of the Republic, I have to-day assumed the Supreme Command, beginning thus the constitutional period of my Government. In bringing this act to the knowledge of Your Excellency I take pleasure in declaring to you that, in the fulfillment of my duties, I shall take especial pains to bind more closely the ties of sincere friendship which happily unite our respective countries. I present [etc.] B. PORRAS. File No. 819.001 P 82/4. The Acting Secretary of State to the Secretary for Foreign Affairs. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 31, 1912. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 14th instant in which you enclose, with office copy, an autograph letter addressed to the President of the United States by His Excellency the President of Panama, in which the latter announces that he has assumed charge of the Presidency of the Republic of Panama. In reply I have the honor to say that His Excellency's letter has been laid before the President, and that his reply will shortly be transmitted through the American Legation at Panama. Accept [etc.] ALVEY A. Adee. File No. 819.001 P 82/4. The Secretary of State to the American Chargé d'Affaires. No. 89.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 14, 1912. SIR: I enclose, with office copy, a letter addressed by the President to His Excellency Belisario Porras, acknowledging his letter of October 1 last in which he announced his election to the Presidency of Panama and his entrance upon the duties of that office. You will forward the copy to the Foreign Office and deliver the original in the manner most agreeable to His Excellency. I am [etc.], [Inclosure.] P. C. KNOX. The President to the President of Panama. THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, November 1, 1912. GREAT AND GOOD FRIEND: I have received the letter of the 1st of October last in which Your Excellency announced that, having been chosen to occupy the First Magistracy of the Republic, you had on that day assumed the Supreme Command. I cordially reciprocate the sentiments you express for the continuance of the friendly relations which have heretofore existed between the United States and Panama, and I assure Your Excellency of my best wishes for your personal welfare and for the prosperity of the Republic over which you have been called to preside. Your Good Friend, WM. H. TAFT. RAILROAD CONCESSIONS TO FOREIGNERS AND THEIR RELATION TO THE CANAL.-ATTITUDE OF THE UNITED STATES. File No. 819.77/69. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. No. 169.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Panama, September 9, 1911. SIR: Referring to the Department's telegraphic instruction of September 2, 8 p. m.,' on the subject of the extension desired by Mr. Dziuk, the concessionary for the Darien Railroad, I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of my note to the Panaman Foreign Office, of August 8, together with a copy and translation of the reply received from the Foreign Office of the same date. It may throw some light upon the tone of this reply to say that I have ascertained that the Secretary of Foreign Relations was unaware of the fact that the Secretary of Fomento had taken up the 1 Not printed; it informed the Minister that the subject specified was being considered. matter with Colonel Goethals; that he had made proposals to him for transmittal to the Secretary of War, and had given him to understand that he desired a definite answer to the question at issue. There is no doubt that Mr. Dziuk has been extremely active in pressing not only the permission to extend the concession, but that the matter be definitely settled without further delay. I am informed that the supposed reason for Mr. Dziuk urging the extension of the concession is that the German and English capitalists back of the Balboa and Pacific Estates Company declined to furnish him with sufficient funds to carry on the enterprise unless he would secure these extensions covering the entire eastern half of the Republic of Panama. I have [etc.] [Inclosure 1.] WM. W. ANDREWS. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Minister for Foreign Affairs. No. 90.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Panama, September 8, 1911. EXCELLENCY: Referring to previous correspondence with your excellency's Government on the subject of railways in the Republic of Panama, I desire to bring to your excellency's attention the subject of railway concessions in general in the Republic, and in particular, the proposed extension of the Dziuk railway concession from the headwaters of the Chucunaque River via Chepo to the Sandías River, which the American Government understands it to be the desire of the Panaman Government to grant. These questions are of such importance as will make it unavoidable that a considerable further time be devoted to their investigation and consideration by the Government of the United States. The new ramifications of the railway plans under consideration introduce many new and important elements, creating a situtation materially different from that of last year. All railway development in the Republic of Panama bears, potentially where not actually, a relation to the immensely important American interests created by the construction of the canal; and it is in order to properly safeguard these interests, while yet conforming to a just appreciation of the rights of the Republic of Panama, that abundant time must be employed in their consideration. The fundamentals of American and Panaman relations are involved in this matter of railway development. Permit me therefore, excellency, to especially impress upon your attention that, meanwhile, it is most essential that the Government of Panama refrain from any further commitments. Accept [etc.]. WM. WHITING ANDREWS. [Inclosure 2.] The Minister for Foreign Affairs to the American Chargé d'Affaires. MINISTRY OF FOREIGN RELATIONS, SIR: I have the honor to refer to your important communication No. 90, of this same date, in relation to the construction of railroads in the Republic and especially to the concession granted to Mr. August Dziuk for the exploitation of one in the region of the Darien. As you know, by the correspondence which I have had the honor to hold with you upon this same subject, the Government of Panama has not lost sight of its obligation to give the United States all the protection which it needs for the execution and preservation of the Canal. Respecting the concession granted to Mr. Dziuk, the Government has not changed its conduct. It was agreed with the Honorable Henry L. Stimson, Secretary of War of the United States, to wait until the American Government should fully consider the question, and this has been done. In nothing, absolutely in nothing, has the status of this matter been changed, and I can assure you most emphatically that my Government will take no step tending to separate itself from the agreement. But if this assurance and those which have been made previously in the same sense were not sufficient to tranquilize the American Government, permit me to suggest the advisability of indicating to us the form in which we can guarantee our promise. This would have, for us, the further advantage of allowing us to complete, immediately following, an agreement relative to the demarcation of the cities of Panama and Colon, which is at present at a standstill on this account. I will appreciate it if you will communicate the foregoing to your Government and inform me of its decision in respect thereto. I have [etc.] File No. 819.77/71. FEDERICO BOYD. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. No. 173.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Panama, September 12, 1911. SIR: I have the honor to report that Mr. August Dziuk, concerning whom there has been considerable correspondence between the Department and this Legation in relation to the Balboa and Pacific Estates Company, Limited, and railway development in Panama, called upon me this morning and stated that he is leaving Saturday for Washington (en route to Germany) to interview the American Government with regard to his affairs and is considering opening an office in New York for the purpose of interesting American capital. Mr. Dziuk asked for a letter of introduction for use at the Department. I suggested that he would naturally come to our Government with an introduction from his Embassy in Washington, but that I would give him a personal note of introduction, as he requested. The exact composition of the body of capitalists which he represents is a little in doubt as it is given out that it is made up of English capitalists rather more than of German. Such introduction to our Government as he may receive through the German Embassy will probably make more clear his standing. Mr. Dziuk asked for a map and showed me the exact original concession, explaining that the territory, which he himself had been the first white man to explore, was very rich in gold. He stated that he had met with no opposition in obtaining the concession covering this first area of country and to the railroads covered by that concession. When he pointed out the route of his proposed extension to or near Panama, I asked him why he sought this. He showed some embarrassment saying that his original concession was no good without this concession, and that the territory through which the proposed line would run was very fertile and rich. Mr. Dziuk evidently was cognizant, from Panaman sources, of the real reasons why his projects are obnoxious to our Government; and I thought it well to state that the opposition he had met with was not because of his nationality but that it would be quite the same if he were of any other foreign nation, saying that the American Govern 67106°-FR 1912-74 ment, realizing that the canal is not only a commercial but a military measure, naturally considers everything from that viewpoint, even looking far ahead into the future. I remarked that the American Government had no objections to himself as an individual. In conclusion, I said to Mr. Dziuk that while I could not with propriety have suggested his going to Washington to see my Government, however, since he had himself determined on this course, I would say that I had-no doubt it would prove more satisfactory to him to discuss his affairs at headquarters. I have [etc.] File No. 819.77/70. WM. WHITING ANDREWS. The American Chargé d'Affaires to the Secretary of State. No. 174.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Panama, September 14, 1911. SIR: Referring to previous correspondence concerning the bids for the construction of the Panama-David railroad, I have the honor to inform the Department that as all three of the American bidders found objection to the limitations and lack of elasticity in the law covering the conditions under which the bids were to be made, and as the President of the Republic, on his part, found none of the three bids satisfactory, by a mutual agreement between the several bidders and himself President Arosemena has called a special session of the National Assembly to convene on the 25th instant for the purpose of modifying the law. The only feature definitely known wherein it is proposed to change the law is to make possible the selling of bonds to cover the cost of the railroad at a price less than par, the present law forbidding the sale of such bonds below par. One of the bidders, Mr. L. E. Myers, with whom is affiliated Rollins & Sons, bankers, of Boston, has allowed it to be publicly supposed that he is returning to the United States, having definitely finished his connection with the bids for the construction of this railroad, but in confidence he has informed me that he has an understanding with President Arosemena that he will return and bid again if the law is changed as above. In the Star and Herald of this morning it is announced that another of the bidders, Mr. Knowlton, is also returning to the United States, having withdrawn from the competition. A British subject, Mr. Gillingham, spoke to me yesterday, saying that he was prepared to make a bid for the bonds to be issued, of 98. This will be considerably higher than any American bid, undoubtedly. Mr. Myers, for example, has been considering offering 92. Mr. Gillingham asked me whether I was able to tell him if the United States Government could, and if so, whether it would, prevent the Government of Panama from pledging as security for these bonds the principal which they have invested in real estate mortgages in the United States of $6,000,000. I told him that I was unable to say, officially, that they would, but that I was quite certain the convention between the two Governments was such as to enable the American Government to do so if it wished. |