File No. 818.00/210
Chargé Johnson to the Secretary of State
San José, August 11, 1917.
Sir: I have the honor to report that the publication of one notice after another by the United Fruit Company of a reduction in their steamship service has caused considerable alarm to be felt here over the possibility of the requisition of all American merchant ships, leaving this country without steamship service with the United [Page 343] States or Europe. The Tinoco Government has been particularly alarmed at the prospect of losing its export tax on coffee already partially discounted and of the further reduction of its receipts from import duties.
The Tinoco organ, La Information, this morning prints an editorial calling attention to this possible requisition of ships and to the danger of not being able to export the coffee crop “upon which serious monetary obligations have already been contracted”, but points out that Costa Rica will not suffer to such an extent as the other Central American countries because of a contract, which, it says, is already signed between the Minister of Finance and Mr. Minor C. Keith which amply assures and guarantees maritime communication between Costa Rica and the United States; the editorial goes on to say that the contract will be presented to Congress next week for ratification; that in return for certain moderate concessions Mr. Keith promises to maintain a weekly service of at least one ship between Puntarenas and the United States, probably New York, and that in these ships Costa Rica will be granted a certain amount of space for fetching and carrying freight; that the number of ships to be engaged in the service is four; that their tonnage is small and that, built as they are especially for the transport of manganese and lacking the qualifications for being used in the European service they will not be requisitioned and therefore Costa Rica’s maritime communication with the United States is permanently assured; that another reason against their being requisitioned is their being engaged in transporting manganese, a requisite in the manufacture of munitions; that once more Providence comes to the aid of Costa Rica; that it is impossible to measure the consequences of not being able to export the coffee crop; that this would be more than a crisis, it would mean complete disaster; that the other manganese mining interests in Guanacaste will want similar concessions which the Government will grant on the same terms—of consenting to carry a certain amount of coffee; that the development of trade through Puntarenas will also greatly benefit the Government railway from San José to that port.