The Secretary of State to Minister Dawson.
Washington , May 31, 1906 .
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 248, of the 10th instant, reporting your interview with the agent of the Clyde Steamship Company, in which he raised objections to the reduction of the port dues as proposed to the Dominican Congress by the minister of foreign relations, and alleged that it was in violation of the Sanchez-Powell agreement of March 6, 1903.
You add that on examining the matter you concluded that the agent’s view was correct, and that you intimated to the President that it was not advisable to take aggressively adverse action against established American enterprises, as seems to have been the case in several recent instances.
The department would be glad to see, as a part of the readjustment of Dominican obligations, a comprehensive treatment of the various concessions that have been granted, including the agreements relating to port dues. It is probable that in some directions compensation will be required to the persons injured by relieving commerce from the vexatious restrictions and burdens which now seem to exist. Pending such adjustment, however, and until the whole subject can be dealt with justly the department would regret very much to see arbitrary violations of the agreements made with American enterprises.
The department concurs in your hope for a more friendly attitude of the Dominican authorities in future and approves your course.
I am, etc.,