The Acting Secretary of
State to Minister Rockhill.
Department of State,
Washington, May 31,
1905.
No. 8.]
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of Mr.
Coolidge’s telegram of the 22d of April last.
In reply I inclose herewith for your information a copy of a letter from
the Secretary of the Treasury expressing his views in the matter.
I am, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
The Secretary of the
Treasury to the Acting Secretary of
State.
Treasury Department,
Washington, May 12,
1905.
Sir: In reply to your letter of the 24th
ultimo, embodying a telegram dated the 22d ultimo from the charge
d’affaires ad interim at Peking, China, and requesting to be advised
by this Department as to what answer should be telegraphed to the
chargé d’affaires in reply to his recommendation that the payments
of the Chinese indemnity should be by “telegraphic transfers” on New
York, I have to state that the agreement of this government with the
international banking corporation provides for the receipt by the
bank of all payments due to the United States arising under the
protocol fixing the amounts to be paid by the Chinese Government.
The bank is to account to the United States Government for the
amount of taels received from the Chinese Government at the value of
the tael in Shanghai at the time of payment, expressed in United
States cents, and to deposit this amount to the credit of the United
States Government in the United States without any charge for loss
by exchange. It would therefore appear that it would not concern the
United States Government in what way the bank might place their
money in New York for the payments due the United States. In fact,
it would appear that the bank is not obliged to make any actual
transfer. The only obligation resting on the bank would be to
deposit with the United States Treasurer the value of the taels
received in accordance with the terms of their bond. If, however,
there is a new arrangement between the Department of State and the
Chinese Government, doing away with the provisions of the existing
protocol relative to the method of payments and providing
[Page 154]
for the payment of the
amounts due and coming due to the United States in American dollars
and making the payments direct to this government, as the telegram
embodied in your letter would indicate, I can see no objection to
the payments being made by “telegraphic transfers.”
Respectfully,
