File No. 822.124/317.

The American Minister to the Secretary of State.

[Telegram—Paraphrase.]

The representative of J. G. White & Co. says that his company desires to meet the views of our Government and that Engineer Williamson, formerly with the Isthmian Canal Commission, will be in charge of the work; that his company desires to have the cooperation of our Government and that Gorgas stands at the head of the list in sanitary work. In the absence of instructions to the contrary I am proceeding on the assumption that the Department desires above all else the speedy and successful sanitation of Guayaquil, and, everything being equal, that it prefers to have the work done by American contractors.

Hartman.