811.7365 W 52/27

The Italian Ambassador ( Caetani ) to the Secretary of State

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of June 9th, with which, in replying to my letter of May 28th,95 you have been good enough to inform me that it is your 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 “Compagnia Italiana dei Cavi Telegrafici Sottomarini”. Such a license should contain, besides the usual formula excluding any monopolistic possibility, a further provision reading as follows:

“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, 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.”

I did not fail to communicate your reply to my Government and I am now authorized to say that the Italian Government, as well as the Italian interests concerned in this enterprise, are willing to agree to the addition of the above quoted clause on the understanding that the scope of such a provision is to safeguard a point of principle, well knowing that the American Government will always actually deal in this respect with its usual sense of loyalty and equity towards Italy.

My Government feels confident that any practical enforcement of the above mentioned provision will not be enacted without the two Governments having first earnestly endeavored to come to a friendly agreement on the matter.

I would be glad to be put in a position to assure the Royal Government on this point.

Accept [etc.]

Caetani
  1. Not printed.