811.7365 W 52/26
The Secretary of State to the Italian Ambassador ( Caetani )
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of May 2894 with which, in reference to our previous conversations on the subject, you were good enough to enclose a copy of the Gazzetta Ufficiale of the Kingdom of Italy containing the text of the contract between the Royal Italian Government and the Italian Submarine Telegraph Cable Company, which has been formed for the purpose of furnishing direct cable communication between Italy and North America. You express the hope that this Government will see its way to furnish the necessary facilities for the successful realization of this enterprise.
In reply I take pleasure in informing you that it is my intention to recommend to the President the issuance of a license in response to the application heretofore made by the Western Union Telegraph Company granting to that Company permission to land a cable in the United States to extend from Rockaway Beach, Long Island, to the Azores where it will connect with the proposed cable to be laid by the Italian Company, the license to contain the following condition:
“That the Licensee does not enjoy and shall not acquire in the Azores, or in any European country connected with the Azores by cable, any right of entry, connection, or operation of cables which by reason of any concession, contract, understanding or working arrangement to which the Licensee is a party is denied to any American company; and that the Licensee is not associated and shall not associate with any foreign company or concern which enjoys in the Azores or in any European country connected with the Azores by cable, any concession, or which is a party to any contract, understanding, or working arrangement, by reason of which any American company is denied privileges or rights similar to those enjoyed by the foreign company or concern affecting traffic between the United States and the Azores, or between the United States and any European country connected with the Azores by cable, provided that this condition shall not be deemed to forbid the association of the Licensee with the Italian Submarine Telegraph Cable Company which enjoys certain privileges respecting unordered traffic by virtue of Article 28 of the contract between the company and the Italian Government, [Page 295] signed at Rome on February 5, 1923, so long as an American cable company, able and willing to furnish the same or similar facilities for the transmission of traffic by cable between the United States and Italy, either directly or via the Azores, shall not be denied equal opportunity with respect to unordered traffic by virtue of the said article or otherwise.”
Permit me to add for your information that the terms of the foregoing condition have been communicated to the Western Union Telegraph Company.
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩