File No. 8682/3.
The Acting Secretary of State to Chargé Wilson.
Washington, February 29, 1908.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 666 of the 10th ultimo, wherein you report the receipt by you of a note from the foreign office relative to the means to be employed to locate criminals in the United States whose extradition is desired by the Argentine Government.
In reply I have to say that the extract quoted in your despatch forms a portion of a note from this department to Mr. Portela, charge d’affaires ad interim of the Argentine Republic at Washington, dated October 15 last, in reply to a note from him in which he requested that “the police authorities of the United States ascertain the whereabouts of Oreste Rosen, charged with fradulent bankruptcy for a large amount in the city of Buenos Aires.” The note [Page 12] was accompanied by a description of the person wanted, but there was no information in the note or its inclosure concerning the place to which the fugitive had probably fled; and, indeed, nothing to show that he had fled to this country at all. Moreover, the department at that time informed Mr. Portela that fraudulent bankruptcy was not among the crimes enumerated in the treaty of extradition between the United States and the Argentine Republic, so that the fugitive could not be extradited for this offense even if his whereabout had become known. It was manifestly impracticable, therefore, under these circumstances, to have brought to the attention of the police authorities of the United States the facts set forth by Mr. Portela.
Concerning the location and arrest by this Government of criminals fugitive from other States, and within its jurisdiction, it should be said that in cases where a crime for which extradition can be obtained has been committed, and the approximate location of the fugitive is furnished, the local police authorities are usually pleased, upon appropriate request, to cooperate and render whatever assistance they can to secure the apprehension of the fugitive, and, so far as the department is aware, this voluntary action of the local officials is generally sufficient to accomplish the object desired.
Therefore, if in cases of extradition from the United States to the Argentine Republic, under our treaty of extradition with that country, information be furnished either to this department or to the local authorities concerning the criminal’s supposed place of refuge, it is probable that these authorities will fully extend all the assistance that is necessary to effect the arrest of the persons desired.
In view of the foregoing the department is inclined to feel that the difficulties suggested by the Argentine Government are more apparent than real.
I am, etc.,