File No. 811.304M28/71. No. 165.] AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith enclosed1 translation of newspaper comment concerning the wreck of the Maine and the honors to the victims. * * I have not ventured to report the ceremonies themselves in the belief that a full report will be made to the War and Navy Departments by the officers directly concerned. I have [etc.] File No. 811.304M28/74. No. 182.] A. M. BEAUPRÉ. AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith enclosed copy and translation of a note received from the Cuban Secretary of State in reply to my communication addressed to him in pursuance of the Department's instructions No. 31 of the 17th ultimo, stating that the Secretary of War had approved the transfer of the after-turret of the Maine intact to the Cuban Government for memorial purposes. I have [etc.] [Inclosure. Translation.] A. M. BEAU PRÉ. No. 275.] The Cuban Secretary of State to the American Minister. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Habana, March 14, 1912. Mr. MINISTER, I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your excellency's courteous note No. 54 of February 28 last,' in which you are pleased to request that I inform the President of the Republic that the Secretary of War, authorized by an act of Congress of your country, dated December 22, 1911, had approved the presentation to the Cuban Government of the after-turret of the Maine, intact with its cannon and some of their shells, as a relic for the Cuban Government. I take pleasure in informing your excellency that on bringing the text of the above-mentioned note to the attention of the President, he has accepted this priceless relic with profound gratitude on behalf of the Republic, proposing to preserve in the most appropriate and adequate manner this monumental relic of the great catastrophe, which will always live in the memories of the Americans, Cubans, and Spaniards as a sorrowful and sacred event. I avail [etc.] File No. 811.304M28/72. MANUEL SANGUILY. The American Minister to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.] AMERICAN LEGATION, In concluding his message read in the opening of the Congress yesterday afternoon, President Gómez said: I do not wish to conclude this message without recording an event that has demonstrated to the entire world the close ties of affection which bind as to 1 Not printed. American people. I refer to the imposing obsequies and the manifestation of mourning accorded to the remains of the sailors found in the wreck of the battleship Maine, and the removal of the wreck from our jurisdictional waters. Our Government and the American Government were associated in this act and, inspired by a common sentiment, fulfilled a pious duty. BEAUPRÉ. SIR: I have the honor to report that by Executive Decree No. 556, dated June 18 and published in the Gaceta Oficial of June 21, 1912, the President has granted, under the doubtful authority of Arts. 62 and 63 and minor provisions of the Law of Waters (Royal Decree of January 13, 1891), a concession to a company called the "Compañía Agricultora de Zapata ", for the reclamation of the Ciénaga de Zapata, a swamp on the south coast of Cuba west of Cienfuegos containing approximately one thousand square miles. The project, which presumably contains plans and specifications of the proposed reclamation work and from which alone any idea as to the nature or extent of this work could be had, is not published. The Ciénaga de Zapata largely consists of public lands, but there are many considerable tracts privately owned. It contains vast quantities of valuable timber and mangrove, and is Cuba's principal source of charcoal, the universal cooking fuel; these natural resources give it its principal if not its only value. Extensive charcoal operations have been going on there for many years, on privately owned as well as upon public lands under Government permits, which I understand afford a not inconsiderable source of public revenue. The project of reclamation is merely a specious pretext for giving away incalculable millions in timber and charcoal woods. The project, if honestly undertaken for the reclamation of the land for agricultural purposes, would perhaps cost many millions of dollars, and it is very doubtful whether it would ever pay as a private enterprise. The company has eight years within which to finish its "reclamation" work, and there is apparently no obligation as to what part or how much of it shall be done in the intervening years; and in that time the company could perhaps cut millions of dollars worth of wood, and then, without ulterior responsibility, throw up the reclamation enterprise as impracticable. There has been a strong outburst of public opinion against the concession. Among the affected landowners is General Enrique Loynaz del Castillo, who in his characteristic style has addressed an open letter to Congress bitterly denouncing the transaction as the most scandalous yet attempted in the "Republic of Pillage". A bill has been introduced in the House of Representatives to investigate the transaction, and it is likely that affected private landowners will, if not bought off, fight the concession in the courts, for the quoted 1 provisions of law relating to insalubrious lands under which the concession is made clearly contemplate low lands and swamps in inhabited regions where they are a menace to public health, while this vast swamp has barely a handful of inhabitants who are engaged in exploiting its natural resources and it has never been regarded as a menace to the health of the distant settlements any more than are the rice fields and salt marshes of our own South Atlantic and Gulf States. The concluding article of the decree of concession provides that— Within thirty days from the date of publication in the Gaceta Oficial, the concessionaire shall notify the Department of Public Works of the concessionaire's conformity with the provisions of this decree; whereupon that Department shall proceed to execute the appropriate instrument or act of concession. * * Until the execution of the instrument prescribed in the quoted provision, the concession does not become effective; and therefore there is still sufficient time in which to procure the suspension or revocation of the concession. Public opinion here is negligible, and only those people who have something at stake (who may be bought off in the meantime) will pay any attention to the matter after the first excitement subsides and the newspapers, appropriately "silenced", cease their attacks. It is not likely that anything will come of the Congressional investigation, even if the motion calling for it is carried. * * * * * is for Therefore the only apparent way to stop this us to enter without delay an emphatic protest that will leave no doubt as to our disauthorization of the measure; unofficial representations of a lukewarm character demanding no specific action might be disregarded. Various promoters have, I understand, for many years sought this concession, former petitions having been summarily dismissed by the Wood, Palma and Magoon administrations, and now that the present promoters have it almost in their grasp a determined stand is necessary in order to dislodge them. Our objections might appropriately be predicated upon the general principle of our interest in the finances of Cuba as affected by the alienation of natural resources for inadequate consideration. and upon Article V of the Platt Amendment regarding sanitary plans. If in the exercise of our rights under Art. V we insisted upon a thorough and comprehensive reclamation of the land with rigid stipulations as to the amount of work to be done each yearreducing the exploitation of natural resources to an incidental opportunity, rather than as it now is, the main object of the concession-the project would, I am convinced, inevitably fall through. Our objections, if any, should be embodied in a note to President Gómez, and in order to be timely should be presented as soon as possible. I therefore respectfully recommend that I be instructed by telegraph. I have [etc.] 1 Not printed. A. M. BEAUPRÉ. File No. 837.6112/1. The Secretatry of State to the American Minister. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, You will address a note to the Government of Cuba saying that to the Department of State, after such inquiry as has been feasible, the Zapata Swamp concession seems to be so clearly ill-advised a project, so improvident and reckless a waste of revenue and natural resources, that this Government is impelled to express to the Government of Cuba its emphatic disapproval of the same and its firm conviction that a measure so inimical to the interests of the Cuban people will not be suffered by the Government of Cuba to be put into operation when that Government shall have given it final consideration. File No. 837.6112/4. No. 343.] The American Minister to the Secretary of State. ΚΝΟΧ. AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, July 18, 1912. SIR: In pursuance of the Department's telegraphic instruction of July 17, I have today addressed a note to the President of Cuba in regard to the Zapata Swamp Concession, of which I have the honor herewith to transmit a copy and translation. I have [etc.]. [Inclosure. Translation.] A. M. BEAUPRÉ. No. 1041.] The American Minister to the President of Cuba. AMERICAN LEGATION, MY DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: In pursuance of instructions from my Government, I have the honor to inform you that, upon such examination as my Government has been able to make of the so-called Zapata concession as contained in Decree No. 556, dated June 18 and published in the Gaceta Oficial of June 21, 1912, the project seems so clearly ill-advised and improvident and such a reckless wasting of public revenue and of natural resources which Cuba can ill afford to lose, that my Government is impelled to express to the Cuban Government its strong disapproval of the scheme and its firm conviction that, upon final consideration, the Cuban authorities will not suffer a measure so inimical to the interests of the Cuban people to be put into operation. It affords me great pleasure, my dear Mr. President, to renew [etc.]. File No. 837.6112/2. The American Minister to the Secretary of State. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Habana, July 19, 1912. In accordance with your telegraphic instruction of July 17, and in the language thereof, I addressed a personal note to President Gómez, who has just sent me a reply thereto of which the following is a translation: MY DEAR MR. MINISTER: I reply to your letter of yesterday addressed to me directly instead of through the Department of State-perhaps by way of unofficial advice or monition, for the protocol prescribes that Department as the channel of communication. In that understanding, I wish only to tell you that Decree No. 556, of June 18 last, was issued in conformity with the laws in force in the exercise of the powers which those laws vest in me and in the fulfilment of my duty, on the strength of reports recommending such action as a measure in the interest of the salubrity of the territory involved and as highly beneficial to the country, in that it will bring about the cultivation of regions heretofore inundated and sterile. The procedure resulting in the issuance of the decree has been long and minute, municipal and provincial authorities having reported favorably, as did also the Superior Board of Health; and the Government of Cuba has not wasted any revenues, nor granted realizable property, nor thrown away natural resources, but on the contrary will by its happy action convert an insalubrious and infected waste into an element of economic activity and national progress. To bring into a state of production and to impart value to lands at present worthless has never anywhere in the world constituted, nor can it constitute, a loss or damage of any kind. The assertions to the contrary contained in your letter arise from a lack of knowledge of the necessary data of fact and law, or from ex parte statements of detractors or persons interested in creating a wrong impression. And doubtlessly attributable to these same causes is the frequent transmission through your Legation of contradictory advice to my Government concerning the work of its component branches in the same matter [sic]. I am, therefore, Mr. Minister, very far from believing that the project merits the condemnatory language of your letter. On the other hand, Congress has requested, for investigation, and has been furnished with the administrative record; and any person whose interest may be unfavorably affected by the decree has recourse to the courts, which protect the rights of all. The Government of Cuba can not, in the exercise of powers inherent in the sovereignty of a free people, allow any supervision, interference or rectification [other] than that coming in proper form from either of those two branches, for the Platt Amendment and the Treaty which embodies it have no further scope than the following: The Government of Cuba consents that the United States may exercise the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property and individual liberty, and for discharging the obligations with respect to Cuba imposed by the Treaty of Paris on the United States now to be assumed and undertaken by the Government of Cuba. This does not authorize or signify meddling [intromisión] in internal affairs, subjecting the acts of the administration to control or tutelage; for such a supervision or censorship would be destructive of the independence and dignity of the Republic, whose rights I can not allow to be restricted without incurring serious responsibility. Just now the Government of which I am the head has shown its efficiency by preserving public peace and health in the face of rebellion and a fearful epidemic, and it fulfills all the obligations imposed by those pacts, which can not presuppose the renouncement of its power to legislate and administrate without the need of outside authorization or permission, nor the subordination of its judgment to extraneous orders, although coming from a nation to which Cuba is so fully grateful for its generous and correct conduct. Nor did the Government of the United States help us to create the Republic in order later to despoil it of its sovereignty by systematic intervention in its internal affairs, interpreting the law of our mutual relations in the sense disclosed in the letter under reply, which would conduce to a régime incompatible with self-government and to a supervisory control not stipulated in our treaties. And I have gone thus far into a discussion of the premises, Mr. Minister, because of your statement that you are acting in pursuance of instructions received from your Government. My Government defines the meaning and scope of the Platt Amendment and the Treaty of May 22, 1903, as these instruments would assuredly be defined by any jurisconsults who might examine their explicit text and by statesmen undesirous of violating our juridic status. |