File No. No. 763.72112/10103
The Chargé in Panama ( Greene) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 10.]
Sir: With reference to my telegram of May 29, 12 noon,3 to the Department’s telegram of June 3, 4 p.m.,3 and to previous despatches to the Department on the subject of the promulgation of a trading with the enemy decree and of a decree on the subject of espionage by the Government of Panama, I have the honor to transmit herewith enclosed (enclosure No. 13) translation of a note dated August 22, received from the Panaman Secretary for Foreign Affairs, stating that these two measures cannot be promulgated in the form of decrees, but that they will be urged upon the National Assembly at one of its first meetings in September, in order that they can be adopted as the [Page 397] laws of Panama, as originally drafted by Maj. Ira K. Wells, Judge Advocate General of the Panama Canal Department. These original drafts have already been submitted to the Department in previous correspondence.1
The question of persuading the Government of Panama to adopt these laws has been one of constant negotiation between this Legation and the Foreign Office of Panama, since April last. …
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
I now no longer have any reason to doubt that early in September these two measures so long urged upon the Government of Panama, will become laws.
I have [etc.]