867.602 Ot 81/393: Telegram
The High Commissioner at Constantinople (Bristol) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:24 p.m.]
217. I learn from the local Turkish agent of the Ottoman-American Development Company that the Turkish Government is showing increasing concern at the failure of the company to give any sign that it is alive. For the last 19 days the agent has heard nothing from New York. He says that while the agricultural concession [Page 1242] has not been formally cancelled as yet, it has been practically annulled and that a French company will obtain it. He points out that the date upon which the Samsoun-Sivas option expires is October 6. I would be pleased to receive telegraphic information regarding latest developments in the company’s affairs, especially as to whether Clayton-Kennedy or Chester plan to return to Turkey and whether the financing of the concession has advanced at all.