Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Address of the President to Congress December 8, 1914

File No. 704.9318/2.

Minister Hale to the Secretary of State.

[Telegram.]

American Legation,
San Jose, August 25, 1914.

Our Consular Agent at Punta Arenas asks the Acting Consul here to inquire of me if the Chinese in Punta Arenas will be allowed protection under the American flag, there being no Chinese consul in Costa Rica. The Consular Agent says that he does not know positively what the Chinamen are afraid of, but, as they have heard that there is to be a general strike among Government employees and as there is so much poverty among the lower classes just now, they are aiming for the security of their property.

The four richest merchants in Punta Arenas, representative of the whole Chinese colony, send petition for protection under the American flag, citing the precedent in Panama.¹

In view of the present international complications, please cable me instructions.

Hale

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1. For. Rel. 1913, pp. 1105 et seq.