611.2531/24: Telegram
The Ambassador in Chile (Culbertson) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received 7:45 p.m.]
99. Referring to my telegram No. 97, August 25, 3 p.m. The Minister for Foreign Affairs has submitted to me the draft of two notes. The translation of the first reads as follows:
“I have the honor to confirm to Your Excellency the terms of the provisional commercial agreement which our respective governments have agreed to establish meanwhile a definite commercial treaty is being studied.
The United States of America will grant to the commerce of Chile the same advantages which it grants to any other state, except the special treatment which the United States accords to its territories and possessions, to Cuba, and to the Panama Canal Zone, both with respect to customs duties and to other governmental taxes, and the Republic of Chile will grant to the commerce of the United States the same treatment that it applies to that of France by virtue of the modus vivendi concluded with that country on May 22nd last, under the same conditions and meanwhile the said modus vivendi remains in force.
The present agreement shall be considered operative from May 22nd of the present year and shall continue in force until 15 days after either of the parties has communicated to the other notice of its termination, unless by mutual agreement it is terminated sooner.
The agreement to which the present communication refers shall be completed by the reply of Your Excellency expressing the conformity [Page 923] of your government with the terms proposed, and by the ratification of it that shall be made by the Government of Chile”.
The proposal is that I reply to this note in like terms and upon this exchange of notes the Chilean Government will remove as of May 22nd the discriminations against American commerce created by the French modus vivendi.
The translation of the second note reads as follows:
“With regard to the purpose of our two governments to conclude as soon as possible a definite commercial agreement referred to in the notes we have exchanged on this same date, I believe it desirable to set forth in this communication that, as I have had the opportunity of informing Your Excellency verbally, this ministry proposes that our two governments undertake immediately the study of the terms of the said treaty which among other things will, both by virtue of (etc.)” as quoted in my telegram 97, August 25, 3 p.m.
The Minister desires a reply to this second note in like terms but pending our decision he is willing to accept from me an acknowledgment that I have submitted to the Department his proposal of a basis for a general commercial treaty. Since the Chilean Government considers that it has made a generous concession in its agreement to incorporate the general most-favored-nation principle in the treaty a favorable reply is expected and I think it a much wiser procedure for us to complete our reply to the second note at the same time that we reply to the first, or even better to consolidate the two notes as originally proposed.
I have endeavored in my conferences with the Chilean Government to separate the removal of the French discriminations from commitments on fundamental treaty policy but as explained in my number 97, August 23 [25], 5 [3] p.m., the Chilean Government insists that they are two aspects of the same problem. I hope that the Department will not think that I am pressing it for a general decision on commercial policy but I feel that if we are unable to study with the Chilean Government a general treaty on the basis suggested I should tell them so now and thus avoid the raising of false hopes.