714.1515/594b
The Secretary of State to the Representative of the United States on the Guatemalan-Honduran Boundary Commission (Davis)4
Sir: Confirming the Department’s telegram No. 6 of March 17, 7 p.m.,5 you are hereby informed that you have been appointed as the American member of the Commission to investigate the border between Guatemala and Honduras and to endeavor to fix a provisional frontier line. It is understood that the Governments of Guatemala and Honduras will be represented on this Commission by special representatives, assisted by technical experts.
[Page 724]The Department sincerely hopes that the labors of the Commission may result in putting an end to the friction which has existed of recent years between Guatemala and Honduras growing out of the existence of territory in dispute between these two nations and by misunderstanding as to the rights and obligations of both nations in this disputed territory. It will be the work of the Commission of which you are a member to investigate conditions in the disputed territory and to suggest means for preventing further difficulties and frontier disputes and incidents of the kind which have recently strained the relations between the two Governments.
It will also be the duty of the Commission to endeavor to fix upon a provisional line which shall be considered as the boundary between Guatemala and Honduras pending a final settlement of the boundary problem and agreement upon a permanent frontier. You will understand that the Commission is not empowered to definitely determine either a provisional or a permanent frontier, but it is hoped that the Commission can agree upon a provisional line which will be acceptable to both Governments. If you should find it impossible to bring your colleagues on the Commission into agreement on any one line you should devote your efforts to ascertaining the maximum concessions which each will make to the other, in order that a disputed region of minimum extent may be agreed upon in which both parties will agree to maintain the status quo. The rights and obligations of both parties within this disputed region should, if possible, be definitely determined and agreed upon. It is also hoped that the Commission will be able to make some constructive suggestions looking toward a definite settlement of the boundary question and the establishment of a permanent frontier.
The Department transmits herewith for your confidential information copies of three memoranda dated December 5, 1925, July 6, 1927, and August 19, 1927, prepared in the Department, which give a succinct history of the boundary dispute and the mediation of the State Department up to the present time.6
The Department is also transmitting under separate cover the “Report on the Economic Survey in parts of Guatemala and Honduras, conducted in May and June, 1919, under the supervision of the American Geographical Society for the Department of State”, together with the maps which accompanied this report,7 and the “Mediation of the Honduran-Guatemalan Boundary Question Held Under the Good Offices of the Department of State, 1918–1919”, in two volumes.8 These documents are not to be considered as confidential and are for the use of the entire Commission.
[Page 725]The Department also encloses for your strictly confidential information a biographical sketch of Doctor Salazar,9 who, it is understood, will be the Guatemalan representative on the Mixed Commission. All the documents accompanying this instruction should be returned to the Department of State when they have served their present purpose.
I am [etc.]