[Inclosure in No. 221.]
Mr. Scrymser to Mr.
Frelinghuysen.
New
York,December 9,
1884.
Dear Sir: I have the honor to inclose a form of
contract which this company is desirous of arranging with the Argentine
Republic, and have to request that you will instruct the American
minister to the Argentine Republic to obtain from that Government its
approval substantially in the form herewith inclosed.
I had the honor of addressing you in regard to the telegraph connections
with Brazil via the Argentine Republic, November 24, 1883, and I regret
to state that the monopoly then complained of
still exists.
I inclose for your information a chart, and will explain that the cable
between the city of Buenos Ayres and Montevideo is owned by an English
company, which is in exclusive alliance with the cables laid to Portugal
and England, and which you will note land at various places on the coast
of Brazil. This cable originally had exclusive rights from the Argentine
Republic, which have now expired, and the monopoly is only maintained
through the rights obtained from Uruguay. The monopoly is so complete
that although many messages are sent from Europe and from the United
States to Brazil, via the lines of this company, not a single message is
permitted to he returned via this company’s lines, thereby imposing upon
all American telegrams the additional charge of fifty cents a word,
which is the charge of the Atlantic cables from England to this
country.
The Governments of the Argentine Republic and Brazil are both anxious for
another outlet for their foreign telegrams independent of the European
route, and politically and geographically there is every reason for the
establishment of an independent line.
In past years your Department has done much to promote contracts of this
nature. It was through the instructions of the Hon. William H. Seward to
our minister in
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Spain that in 1865
the contract for the establishment of a cable connecting the United
States with Cuba and other West India islands was obtained from the
Government of Spain by the International Ocean Telegraph Company.
Similar instructions and authority were given by the State Department to
the Hon. James Watson Webb, American minister to Brazil, and on August
9, 1878, the Hon. Frederick W. Seward, Acting Secretary of State,
informed me that instructions of a like nature had been sent to the Hon.
Mr. Foster which I am pleased to state resulted in obtaining from the
government of Mexico a contract which has enabled this and its
connecting companies to establish telegraph communication with all the
nations of Central and South America, excepting Brazil.
I therefore ask that your Department will forward to our minister in the
Argentine Republic the necessary instructions to obtain from that
Government the authority asked for.
On receipt of your answer to this application, I will send to our
minister full instructions and the necessary power of attorney.
I have, &c.,
JAMES A. SCRYMSER,
President.
