File No. 711.428/456
The Secretary of Commerce ( Redfield) to the Secretary of State
My Dear Mr. Secretary: … May I take this occasion also to acknowledge receipt of your communication of October 19 and to say that, as you have already been advised, it is the intention of this Department to appoint Dr. H. M. Smith, the Commissioner of Fisheries, [Page 437] and Hon. Edwin F. Sweet, the Assistant Secretary of Commerce, representatives on behalf of this Department on a joint commission of inquiry for the consideration of pending questions concerning the fisheries of both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts? I note that the appointment of the proposed commissioners is satisfactory to the British Embassy as indicated by the communication to you from the British Ambassador of the 8th instant. I shall be pleased to formally appoint the above-named gentlemen as commissioners on receipt of your advice that you are ready to have this done and as to the form in which it should be done. Will you kindly convey the matter to me at your early convenience?
I concur with you in thinking that the questions as to the time and place of the conference may be left to the representatives of the two Governments.
I concur also that it should be the understanding that the representatives of the two Governments are to be empowered to reach a mutually satisfactory understanding as to the pending fisheries questions and to report the result of their deliberations as the basis of a formal agreement.
Awaiting the favor of your further advices in the matter looking to the immediate appointment in due form of the American commissioners, I am [etc.]