723.2515/1967a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the President of the Plebiscitary Commission (Lassiter)

The following is the decision of the Arbitrator upon the appeals made on January 30:

“In the matter of the arbitration between the Republic of Chile and the Republic of Peru, with respect to the unfulfilled provisions of the Treaty of Peace of October 20, 1883, under the Protocol and Supplementary Act signed at Washington July 20, 1922.

Decision of the Arbitrator upon the Appeals from Certain Decisions of the Plebiscitary Commission made on the 30th day of January, 1926.

1. On the 11th day of February, 1926, the Arbitrator made an Order allowing appeals from certain decisions of the Plebiscitary Commission made on the 30th day of January, 1926, and determining the time and manner in which, and the record upon which, the said appeals should be submitted. These appeals which were taken both by Chile and by Peru challenged the interpretation and application by the Plebiscitary Commission of that provision of the Award which declares that ‘no person shall acquire a vote through residence in said territory … if during any part of such required period of residence he … has been a government official or civil employee in the political, judicial or fiscal service of either country, or has received compensation as such’. The interpretation and application of this provision was embodied in Article 5 of the registration and election regulations adopted by the Plebiscitary Commission on January 27, 1926, which reads as follows:

‘Article Five

Scope of the phrase “Government, official or civil employee in the political, judicial or fiscal service” of Chile or Peru.

(A)The several registration and election boards will treat the following government officials or civil employees as falling within the scope of the phrase quoted at the beginning of the present article, to wit:

1. The Presidents, Vice Presidents, Ministers, cabinet officers and other executive officials of the two republics. 2. The Chilean intendent [e]s. 3. The Chilean Governors. 4. The Chilean subdelegates. 5. The Peruvian prefects and subprefects. 6. The maritime governors. 7. The captains of ports. 8. District inspectors. 9. The judges and the members of all courts. 10. The fiscals. 11. Recording officers charged with the keeping of court records and registers of all kinds; of the public record of births, baptisms, deaths, marriages, incorporations, partnerships and other like statistics and facts; and of records relating to the title to, and liens on real estate. 12. Notaries public. 13. Public prosecutors [Page 313] and lawyers whose public duty it is to prosecute or defend civil or criminal actions in the courts or to give legal advice; and persons serving permanently or for fixed periods of time as receivers or trustees of estates or interests in litigation and under the control or supervision of the courts; excluding, however, lawyers who are voluntarily retained in each cause and who serve private interests for compensation paid by the latter. 14. Officials and employees of the customs, the internal revenue and the tax collecting services. 15. Officials and employees of the treasury and of the financial departments of the two governments. 16. Officials and employees of the quarantine, the hygiene, and the public health services. 17. Civilian (or other) officials or employees who, as a regular duty or employment act, as surgeons, physicians or dentists to the army and the navy and the military and naval services; also surgical and medical officials and employees on duty at the army and navy hospitals. 18. Civilian (or other) officials, artificers and employees on duty at the arsenals, public docks, public factories and repair shops engaged in constructing, providing, maintaining or storing arms or ammunition or both for the army and navy, or ships for use by the army, the navy, the lighthouse service, the customs, the internal revenue, the quarantine or other similar services. 19. Civilian (or other) navigating and executive officers on public ships, other than those engaged in a purely commercial service. 20. Mayors and other executive officials of the cities and municipal corporations of either nation or of any other political subdivisions of the Chilean or Peruvian Governments. 21. Legislators and aldermen. 22. Officials, superintendents and teachers in the public schools. 23. Officials, superintendents and inspectors of the public markets. 24. Secretaries, stenographers, clerks, assistants, and employees of every nature and find who cooperate or collaborate or assist in the work entrusted to the officials, superintendents, or others mentioned above. 25. Officials and employees whose duty falls within the scope of the present paragraph or includes some of the duties of the army, navy, carbineers, secret or other police, the secret service or the gendarmerie, even though such duty falls also within the scope of paragraph (B) of this article.

(B) The several registration and election boards will treat the following government officials or civil employees (provided they do not discharge, in part, the duties of the government officials or civil employees mentioned in the preceding paragraph) as not included within the scope of the phrase quoted at the beginning of the present article, to wit:

1. Officials and employees of the Arica La Paz Railway. 2. Officials and employees of enterprises of a private nature, despite their receiving subsidies from the public treasury. 3. Secretaries, stenographers, clerks, assistants, and employees of every nature and kind, who cooperate or collaborate or assist in the work entrusted to the officials, superintendents, or others, previously in the paragraph mentioned.

(C) The several registration and election boards will treat all government officials and civil employees whose status is not fixed [Page 314] by the two preceding paragraphs of the present article as being within the scope of the phrase quoted at the beginning of the present article. The true status of such officials and employees will be determined as promptly as practicable by the appeals board, in the event of appeals being taken.’

2. Chile appealed from the finding and decision of the Plebiscitary Commission with respect to the classes of government officials and civil employees enumerated in items numbered 11, 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of paragraph A of said Article 5; and also from the refusal of the Plebiscitary Commission to include officials and employees of the telegraph and postal service among the classes enumerated in paragraph B of said Article 5. Chile further appealed from the refusal of the Plebiscitary Commission to reconsider and modify Article 159 (subsequently renumbered as Article 123) of the regulations, but on February 13, 1926 withdrew the appeal as to that Article.

3. Peru appealed from the finding and decision of the Plebiscitary Commission with respect to the classes enumerated in items 1, 2 and 3 of paragraph B of said Article 5.

(4) The Arbitrator has received and duly considered all of the documents referred to in the Resolution of the Plebiscitary Commission certifying the said appeals and also such other documents as have been transmitted to him pursuant to the Order of February 11, 1926.

Now, therefore, the Arbitrator decides:

1.
That the appeal of Chile in so far as it concerns said Article 159 (renumbered as Article 123), having been withdrawn, be and it is hereby dismissed of record.
2.
That the finding and decision of the Plebiscitary Commission as to all other matters involved in the pending appeal by Chile, that is to say with respect to the classes of government officials and civil employees enumerated in items numbered 11, 12, 13, 16, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of paragraph A and with respect to the officials and employees of the telegraph and postal service which the Plebiscitary Commission refused to include among the classes enumerated in paragraph B of said Article 5 of the registration and election regulations adopted on January 27, 1926, be and the same are hereby affirmed.
3.
That the finding and decision of the Plebiscitary Commission as to all matters involved in the appeal by Peru, that is to say with respect to the classes of government officials and civil employees enumerated in items 1, 2 and 3 of paragraph B of said Article 5 of the regulations be and the same are hereby affirmed.

Calvin Coolidge,
Arbitrator.

By the Arbitrator
Frank B. Kellogg
Secretary of State.

February 25, 1926.”

Kellogg