File No. 838.111/61.]
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister of Haiti .
Washington , March 5, 1912 .
Sir: Referring to the matter which was the subject of our conversation on the occasion of your recent call at the Department, namely, the questions arising out of the proposed enforcement by the Government of Haiti of its law respecting the rights and privileges of Syrians in Haitian territory, I now have the honor to make more definite reply to your inquiries and to explain the present view of this Government with respect to the general situation.
As indicated in our conversation, this Government is not disposed to dispute, as a matter of right, the general right of the Government of Haiti to exclude from its territory persons classed as undesirable by its local laws, or to make and enforce such regulations concerning the exercise of the privileges granted such persons by Haitian laws as may be reasonable and proper under the circumstances, provided, of course, that the measures adopted by the Haitian Government conform to the applicable rules and principles of international law and to the law of Haiti. It should be stated, however that aside from what may be termed the purely legal aspect of the matter, that is, the technical rights and obligations of interested Governments and individuals under the applicable rules of law, there would appear to be other phases of the situation caused by the enforcement of the Haitian law in question which the Government of Haiti might well take into consideration in order to arrive at a solution which shall best subserve all interests.
I would first observe that from the Department’s information it appears that a large number of American manufacturing firms, who annually export to Haiti products valued at some millions of dollars, employ as their local Haitian agents the Syrian firms of American and other nationalities whose operation must cease if the Haitian law in question is to be enforced. Considering especially the case of American exporting firms, apart from the serious money loss which may easily be suffered by them from the non-fulfillment of contracts by their agents, even if a prolonged period for liquidation of the agents’ affairs is granted by the Haitian Government, there is of course the further result that the elimination of the Syrian agents will disrupt this valuable American trade and tend inevitably to divert it eventually to other foreign channels. This circumstance naturally causes this Government to view with great regret the course of the Haitian Government under discussion, and I am loath to believe that a realization of the consequences just described will have no effect on the minds of the Haitian authorities in their deliberation upon the wisdom of that course.
It would seem that note should also be taken of the fact that, as you are informed, other interested Governments not only are as much concerned about the present situation as this Government, but are also apparently decided upon a policy of determined and insistent protest against the enforcement of the regulations in question. As was intimated in our conversation, this seems especially true in the case of the Government of Great Britain. In this connection I must observe in passing that if such protest is effective and the Haitian [Page 537] Government is persuaded to grant trading privileges to any of the Syrians in Haiti, this Government may not of course suffer any discrimination against its nationals and must accordingly require that persons of the Syrian race of American allegiance shall be put upon the same footing as the nationals of other Governments.
In connection with the matter of the protests of the various foreign Governments concerned, I would further observe that it appears from the Department’s information that those Governments and foreigners generally who are interested in Haitian commerce regard the enforcement of the law in question not only an unfriendly act but as an unjust one, and, accordingly, view the present policy of the Haitian Government with considerable animosity. The Department is further informed that this effect of the measures recently initiated seem to have raised some doubt in the minds of the responsible Haitian authorities as to their desirability and wisdom.
In conclusion I would suggest that a consideration of the various aspects of the matter indicated above might well dispose the Haitian Government to the view that the difficulties and injurious consequences of its persistence in the enforcement of the law so widely and so seriously complained of would far outweigh the benefits presumably expected from its operation by the authorities who enacted it and those who now desire its present rigid enforcement.
Accept [etc.]