File No. 832.73/149
The President of the Western Union Telegraph Co. ( Newcomb Carlton) to the Secretary of State
Dear Sir: We have just received advices by letter and by cable from Mr. O’Shaughnessy from which we are able to gather the contents of the material clauses of the concession lately published by the Brazilian Government for a submarine cable between that country and one of the Greater Antilles. On examining the text of the clauses in question, we find that certain amendments, for which we had instructed our representative to ask and which previous reports from him indicated would be accepted, were finally refused by the Brazilian authorities.
One of these amendments was intended to give us the right to lay the cable between Brazil and the Antilles “directly or indirectly,” our plant department having advised us that a single stretch of cable without an intermediate landing would be commercially unworkable because of electrical resistance and consequent lack of speed. In this relation it may be observed that the concession granted to the French Cable Co. in 1890 to lay a cable from Brazil to the United States expressly provided that the cable might be laid “directly or indirectly.”
[Page 71]The other amendment was intended to give us the right to land at some point other than Belem in the State of Para. We deemed this to be important not only for plant reasons but also for the reason that it was not impossible that we might in the end find ourselves excluded from Belem as a point already occupied by the Western Telegraph Co., in view of the fact that we might wish to land at another western point south of Belem.
The rejection of these amendments, to which we had no notice that objection would be made and to which no legitimate objection from the point of view of the Brazilian Government seemed possible, leads to the conclusion that at the last moment rival interests, and particularly the Western Telegraph Co., were able to exert a decisive influence to the end that the concession should be put into a form which if accepted by us would offer as little prospect as possible of serious competition.
We have notified Mr. O’Shaughnessy that the concession was not acceptable to us, which will, we fear, determine the matter unless your Department can see its way to intervene in our behalf.
Faithfully yours,