File No. 862.20219/55

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Panama ( Price)

No. 390

Sir: The Department has received your No. 1388 of May 15, 1917, confidential, enclosing a copy of a note from the Panaman Foreign Office forwarding a complaint of the Consul of Sweden, accredited to Panama, concerning the internment of Oscar W. Eliassen with the Germans at Taboga Island.1

In reply I have to say that you are authorized to advise the Panaman Minister for Foreign Affairs that this Government will hold [Page 234] Panama harmless against loss on account of having heretofore interned persons in conformity with this Government’s desire, provided this Government shall be kept informed of the proceedings of claimants and be satisfied that the Government of Panama resisted their claims in good faith.

I am [etc.]

Robert Lansing
  1. Not printed.