314.115C43/164: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Guatemala (Geissler)
53. Your 118, September 21. In view of suggestions of the Guatemalan Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Department is willing to modify the statement of the question in the Shufeldt arbitration to read as follows:
“What sum, if any, is justly due from the Guatemalan Government to the Government of the United States on account of damages sustained by P. W. Shufeldt, a citizen of the United States, as a result of the action of the Guatemalan Government in enacting legislative decree No. 1544 of July 4, 1928, declaring “disapproved” a contract of February 4, 1922, celebrated between the Government and Messrs. Francisco Najera A. and Victor M. Morales I. for the extraction of a minimum of 75,000 quintales of chicle in a defined area over a period of ten years, the rights of the said Najera and Morales having been ceded by a contract of February 11, 1924 [1922], to the said P. W. Shufeldt.”
If this statement is acceptable to the Guatemalan Government, proceed with exchange of notes and telegraph Department.