File No. 738.3915/53.
The American Minister to Haiti to the Secretary of State.
Port au Prince, March 11, 1911.
By appointment, I have just had an interview with the President of Haiti. Although ordered to be present at the interview, the minister for foreign affairs did not attend. As the Department’s aide memoire of March 9, 2 p.m., had not been seen by the President, I gave him a copy. The President asked me to inform my Government that he can not consent to the construction of the proposed road until a decision has been reached by an arbitral court, and that the time necessary for such a decision should not prejudice the interests of the Dominican Government, as the Haitian Government is ready for an immediate arbitration of the questions involved, having [Page 160] already designated its commission, headed by the minister of Haiti at Paris. The President adds that, owing to the character of the section in dispute there is very little, if any, contraband crossing it, and that the Haitian Government is willing to help in suppressing any that does exist.