Mr. Polk then informed Mr. Ménos that, inasmuch as there was no record of a definite agreement as to the construction of this article, the Department must rest on the interpretation that "collect, receive and apply" means collect, receive and apply.

Mr. Ménos was told, however, that a telegram would be sent Mr. Davis, asking whether he understood that a verbal agreement had been reached in this connection. Mr. Ménos made no reply other than to say that he was sorry that the Department would not agree with his views of the matter.

File No. 711.38/107a

STABLER

The Secretary of State to Secretary of Embassy Davis

[Telegram]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, November 2, 1916, 7 p. m.

Ménos claims that you agreed with Minister for Foreign Affairs night before signature to treaty, to Haitian Government's interpretation Article II, namely that there would be two divisions of customs service, one under Receiver General and his assistants and the other an assessment office under Haitians appointed directly by President of Haiti. No record can be found at Department of any agreement to this effect made by you.

Please cable Department your understanding of the matter.

File No. 711.38/107

LANSING

Secretary of Embassy Davis to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

AMERICAN EMBASSY,

London, November 3, 1916, 5 p. m.

Your November 2, 7 p. m. The statement made by Ménos is wholly without foundation. I entered into no agreement, either orally or in writing, with respect to the interpretation of Article II, or any other article of Haitian treaty. On the contrary I made a general statement to Minister of Foreign Relations, when the question of interpretation of another article arose, that every article of the treaty must stand on the ordinary meaning of the English text, and with the particular object of guarding against such contingency as has now arisen, I took occasion to make such statement to Minister of Foreign Relations in the presence of Lieutenant E. G. Oberlin.

File No. 838.00/1422

Minister Blanchard to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

DAVIS

AMERICAN LEGATION,

Port au Prince, November 4, 1916, 6 p. m. That supervision of sanitation and public works under Article XIII rests with Oberlin is understood but such expression to the Haitian Government has not cleared the situation relative thereto,

as that Government demands the turnover to it of all work under the occupation. Sanitary and repair works now being done by occupation under martial law remain so for military reasons and cooperation of Oberlin therein is inadmissible. The first part of Article XIII indicates plainly that the works above mentioned have nothing to do with the sanitation and public improvement therein contemplated and they in no way interfere with the operation of the article in question. BLANCHARD

File No. 838.15/30

The Minister of Haiti to the Secretary of State

[Translation]

LEGATION OF HAITI, Washington, November 16, 1916. MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: Referring to my note of July 3 last,* I have the honor again to call your excellency's attention to the difficulties that are even now hampering and checking the full operation of Article XIII of the convention concluded between the Republic of Haiti and the United States of America on September 16, 1915.

My Government at first thought those difficulties would be brought to an end by the appointment and induction of the engineer provided by the above-cited article, but it was not long before it had to contend with manifest reluctance.

At any rate, it was finally understood that the works and departments that were still in the hands of the American forces in Ĥaiti would be turned over on October 1, 1916, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

Yet nothing like it has been done as yet and it was in vain that the Secretary of State for Foreign Relations repeatedly addressed the Legation of the United States at Port au Prince to that effect, and particularly made known to it that the engineer appointed by the President of Haiti upon the nomination made by the President of the United States had formally declared to the Secretary of State for Public Works that he was ready to enter upon the full discharge of his official duties.

My Government has not ceased, since the exchange of ratifications of the convention, to look to and request its early complete observance. It confidently expects your excellency to agree with it in having Article XIII of the convention respected and fully enforced. Be pleased [etc.]

File No. 838.15/44a

SOLON MENOS

The Secretary of State to Minister Blanchard

[Telegram]

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 11, 1916, 6 p. m.

Immediately inform Haitian Government that the President of the United States has made the following nominations for appointment by the President of Haiti under the terms of Article XIII of

Not printed.

the Treaty of September 16, 1915, between the United States and Haiti: Civil Engineer Ernest R. Gayler, U. S. N., to be engineer; Surgeon Norman T. McLean, U. S. N., to be engineer in charge of sanitation.

LANSING

File No. 838.15/40b

The Secretary of State to the Minister of Haiti

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 14, 1916.

SIR: With reference to your conversation at the Department this morning, in regard to the engineer officer to the Government of Haiti appointed under the terms of the treaty between the United States and Haiti, I have the honor to inform you that Civil Engineer Ernest R. Gayler, U. S. N., has been nominated by the President of the United States for appointment to this post.

I desire to advise you that Civil Engineer Gayler is not a line. officer in the United States Navy but belongs to the engineering branch of the service. His detail as engineer adviser to the Government of Haiti may be considered as permanent, and it is understood that he will not be withdrawn by the Navy from this detail except in the case of some unforeseen emergency.

I therefore wish to request that you will communicate this fact to your Government at the earliest possible moment, in order that His Excellency, the President of Haiti, may appoint Civil Engineer Gayler, according to the terms of the treaty.

Accept [etc.]

ROBERT LANSING

File No. 838.15/30

No. 22

The Secretary of State to the Minister of Haiti

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, December 22, 1916. SIR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 16th ultimo, in which you make reference to the application of Article XIII of the Convention of September 16, 1915, between the United States and the Republic of Haiti, and in which attention is called to certain difficulties which you state your Government has experienced in regard to the operation of the said article.

You are also pleased to state that it was understood by your Government that the public works and the departments thereof, which were in the hands of the American forces in occupation, would be turned over to it on the first of October, 1916, and that this has not been done, although repeated requests have been addressed to the American Legation at Port au Prince and the engineer appointed by the terms of the treaty had reported that he was ready to enter upon the full performance of his duties.

In reply I have the honor to acquaint you with the fact that my Government can see no difficulties in the situation, inasmuch as all works are being satisfactorily carried out, and is at a loss to under

stand the error into which the Government of Haiti has fallen in thinking that it has been agreed upon to turn over the public works to the Government of Haiti at any stated time. It is well understood by the Government of the United States that the engineer appointed according to the treaty had notified the Department of Public Works of the Republic of Haiti that he was ready to enter upon his official duties, but it was also understood by this Government that he had requested the cooperation of the occupation in these works, for the obvious reasons that he had not at hand the organization which was necessary to undertake and to carry on the work in the proper manner.

I also desire to inform you that the Government of the United States considers that its observance of the articles of the treaty has been carried out in strict accord with its interpretation thereof and feels sure that the Government of Haiti, upon a reconsideration of this matter, will clearly see that the best interests of the Republic of Haiti have been those first to be considered by the Government of the United States.

Accept [etc.]

ROBERT LANSING

CONTROVERSY BETWEEN THE NATIONAL RAILROAD COMPANY OF HAITI AND THE GOVERNMENT OF HAITT. GOOD OFFICES OF THE UNITED STATES.1

File No. 838.77/132

The French Ambassador to the Secretary of State

[Translation]

FRENCH EMBASSY, Washington, May 8, 1916.

MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: The attention of the Government of the Republic has been drawn to the predicament of the French bondholders of the Railway Company of Haiti who have not cashed their coupons since August 1914 although their payment is guaranteed by the Haitian Government.

The Minister of France at Port au Prince repeatedly called upon the Haitian Government to provide, in fulfilment of its pledges, the funds required for the payment to our fellow countrymen of their overdue coupons, and the last reply of the Haitian Minister of Foreign Relations was that the Government of the United States and the Haitian Commission sent to Washington were now exchanging views over the difficulties that had sprung up between the company and the Haitian Government.

Taking for granted that a settlement of this question has been actually considered by the Haitian delegates in accord with the Federal Administration, my Government wishes me to apply to your excellency with a view to obtaining at the earliest possible date the payment of the aforesaid outstanding coupons of securities which represent a French capital amounting to about thirteen million francs.

Be pleased [etc.]

Continued from For. Rel. 1915, p. 538.

JUSSERAND

File No. 838.77/132

No. 1692

The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador

DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 11, 1916. EXCELLENCY: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency's note of the 8th instant, in which you request that an arrangement be reached as early as possible whereby the outstanding coupons of the bonds of the National Railroad of Haiti, now held by citizens of France, may be paid.

As the Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs has informed the representative of your Government, the Haitian Commission, now in the United States, is charged, among other duties, with the conduct of negotiations looking to the solution of the present difficulties between the railroad and the Government of Haiti, in connection with which this Department has been happy to tender its good offices in the hope that an early and mutually satisfactory settlement of the matter may be attained.

Accept [etc.]

ROBERT LANSING

File No. 838.77/137

The National Railroad Company of Haiti to the Chief of Division of Latin American Affairs

NEW YORK, May 24, 1916. SIR: Following my letter to you of May 8.2 I enclose herewith duplicate copies of a memorandum dealing in a general way with the claims which the Compagnie Nationale des Chemins de Fer d'Haiti has against the Haitian Government, and also the differences existing between the two over certain matters.

So soon as your Department and the members of the Haitian Commission are ready to discuss the various matters covered by the enclosed memorandum I will attend at Washington upon notification from you.

Yours [etc.]

COMPAGNIE NATIONALE DES CHEMINS DE FER D'HAITI,

R. L. FARNHAM, President

[Inclosure-Memorandum]

In accordance with the terms and conditions of its concession which, in final amended form, was duly ratified by the Congress of the Republic of Haiti and officially promulgated April 16, 1910, the Compagnie Nationale des Chemins de Fer d'Haiti began in April 1911 the construction of the National Railroad of Haiti. Between the date of the commencement of the construction work (April 1911) and the date of the intervention of the United States in Haitian affairs (July 1915) the railroad company has suffered great losses:

1. Through destruction, damage and theft by revolutionary bodies and sometimes by the troops of the Government, of its property.

2. Through being compelled to make payments unlawfully exacted from it by the various Governments which have prevailed in Haiti during the above-named period and in direct contravention to the specific provisions of its concession.

'Not printed.