837.73/32
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Cuba (Long)
Sir: Referring to the Department’s telegram No. 16 of January 14, 1921, and the Department’s instruction No. 274 of January 25, 1921, relative to steps taken by the Western Union Telegraph Company to land its proposed Barbados-Miami Beach cable at Cojimar, [Page 823] you are informed that this Government did not consider it proper to request the Cuban Government to suspend the landing permit which was issued to the Western Union Telegraph Company by Cuba on June 3, 1920,28 for landing a cable from Barbados at Cojimar, Cuba. The issuance or suspension of cable landing permits is considered a sovereign right of the Cuban Government, and it was considered possible that the Cuban Government might resent any representations or suggestions by this Government which might be construed as an attempt to influence the decision of the Cuban Government on this question.
This Government also does not feel justified at this time in requesting the Cuban Government to assist it in a controversy with an American corporation. Furthermore, if Cuba complied with such a request, it might lead to difficulty if at some subsequent time Cuba requested similar action by this Government in a case that might prove embarrassing to it.
For these reasons it was decided that no representations should be made at this time to the Cuban Government on the subject.
This decision was reached, although it was realized that if this cable was landed in Cuba it would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, because it appeared possible that it would result in a violation of the long established policy of this Government to require any foreign cable company to give up any exclusive or monopolistic rights which it had at the foreign terminus of the cable in exchange for the right to land it on our shores, either directly or by means of a connecting link. The action taken by this Government in similar cases that have previously arisen, is set forth in the Department’s mail instruction of January 25, 1921. Consideration was also given to the possibility that the landing of this cable in Cuba would result in an attempt to transmit messages to and from the United States, originating in or destined for points in Brazil, over the existing cables of the Western Union between Key West and Cojimar, and this would result in a violation of the conditions contained in the permit issued by the President on November 20, 1920, modifying the previous permit under which these cables were operated. A photostat copy of the new permit was forwarded to you with the Department’s instruction of January 25, 1921.
The Department appreciates the motives which have actuated the Cuban Government in suspending the landing permit of the Western Union.
The Department approves of your action in refraining from making representations to the Cuban Government on this subject except upon explicit instructions from the Department.
[Page 824]In response to the request contained in your telegram of January 19, 1921,29 the Department forwarded in the pouch on January 29, 1921, copies of the proceedings in the suit brought by the Government for an injunction against the Western Union in the District Court for the Southern District of New York.29 Your attention is invited to the temporary injunction granted on January 19, 1921, and printed on pages 3 and 4 of the record.
As of possible interest in this connection, the Department also forwards two copies of a memorandum dated September 29, 1920, relative to the British cable monopoly in Brazil filed with the representatives of the United States at the International Conference on Electrical Communications.29
I am [etc.]
- See despatch no. 253, July 10, 1920, from the Chargé in Cuba, Foreign Relations, 1920, vol. ii, p. 60.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Not printed.↩