437.11H23/39
The Ambassador in Cuba (Judah) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 14.]
Sir: Referring to the matter of the Harrah claim, I have the honor to state that I asked President Machado, through an informal [Page 914] note dated January 3, 1929, to give me his answer on the question of arbitration. This morning the Secretary of State asked me to call upon him and stated to me that President Machado had requested him to advise me that President Machado was not yet ready to give me an answer, saying that the President had decided to submit the question as to whether or not the matter was one which could properly be arbitrated, to a Committee of three of the leading lawyers here, viz., Doctor Antonio Sanchez Bustamante, Doctor Enrique Hernández Cartaya, and Doctor Octavio Averhoff for their opinion. I asked when we might reasonably expect these gentlemen to have completed their study of the matter and be ready with their opinion, and he stated that the matter would be immediately referred to them and suggested that their opinion should be ready within a month.
These three men are lawyers of excellent reputation here for ability and integrity. You will remember that, in our note to the Foreign Office, we suggested the name of Doctor Bustamante as Arbitrator for Cuba.
Meanwhile, I suggest that, if Mr. Hackworth28 has finished the draft form for the proposed arbitration agreement in this matter, he forward the same to me and I will submit it to President Machado with the suggestion that it be studied by the same Committee so as to save time in case the Committee advise an arbitration.
I have [etc.]
- Green H. Hackworth, Solicitor of the Department of State.↩