File No. 838.51/483
The Secretary of State to Minister Blanchard
Washington, February 29, 1916, 6 p.m.
The Haitian Minister, under instruction from his Government, has requested that the sum of forty-five thousand dollars due the Compagnie Haitienne de Construction for work already performed be liquidated by monthly payments of five thousand dollars, in addition to the seven thousand dollars per month which the Admiral is now paying the company for present work in conformity with its contract. The Department would be glad to receive your recommendation as regards the advisability of complying with the request of the Haitian Government in view of the desirability of bettering the sanitary conditions at Port au Prince and of furnishing increased opportunities for work to the unemployed.