The Secretary of State to Minister Swenson
Washington, November 28, 1900.
Three and one quarter millions is the lesser alternative sum. Alter instructions to agree.
As to Article III, we believe all that Denmark desires in favor of inhabitants remaining under our flag will be accomplished by the original proposal to permit election of allegiance to the United States.
It is the natural converse of the permission to elect retention of Danish allegiance. If however, Denmark insists on a formula which shall put the inhabitants electing American allegiance on the same footing as Porto Ricans, you may suggest inclusion of the appropriate clause found in Article 9 of our treaty of peace with Spain as follows:
The civil rights and political status of the inhabitants of the Islands hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.