File No. 711.5914/17
Minister Egan to the Secretary of State
Copenhagen , November 14, 1911 .
Sir: I have the honor to state that, in a conversation with Count Ahlefeldt-Laurvig, Minister for Foreign Affairs, using Mr. Nielsen’s recent lecture on Panama and Danish West India Islands as a text, I asked him whether the Danish Government expected the condition of the islands to improve after the opening of the Panama Canal. He said yes, that the Government was doing its best to increase the depth of the harbor, and that the industrial outlook was better; but this in rather a vague way. He did not seem to know anything about the sea cotton industry, but laid great stress on the production of bay rum. He said that he had once been in favor of selling the islands to the United States for the reason that they were of no profit to Denmark, and in case of war it was difficult to defend colonies so far distant. His view had changed of late, however, as conditions in the islands were improving. I said that my Government was, at present, occupied with more important questions. Personally, I added, I very much desired to see these islands so near our coast the property of the United States, and if there was any intention on the part of his Government to offer them for sale, I should do all in my power to urge our Government to accept any reasonable offer, but that their value strategically and economically was not so great now as it was before we acquired Puerto Rico and a naval station in Cuba. I said I understood that Danish national pride was the main thing that stood in the way of parting with these islands, and naturally we Americans, who were sometimes sentimental ourselves, sympathized with this. I said I was surprised that there still existed Danes who imagined that the West India Islands could be traded to Germany for Schleswig.
I have [etc.]