Office of the Historian

811B.011/10

Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)

[Washington,] March 4, 1935.

When the Japanese Ambassador was here this afternoon he handed me the accompanying paper,70 which he said should not strictly have been called “memorandum”, relating to Article 13, Sections 13 and 16 of the Draft Constitution of the Philippines,71 which contains certain provisions restricting the right of foreign nationals to develop and [Page 1081] exploit natural resources in the Philippines. He said he realized it was a delicate matter for him to take up with us, but his Government felt that such a provision should, if possible, be deleted from the Constitution, but failing in this he asked whether there could not be a clause added to the Constitution granting rights to foreign nationals on the basis of reciprocity; the last paragraph of his so-called “memorandum” discusses this point.

I said that I would give the matter consideration, but could not undertake to express any opinion at the present time.

William Phillips
  1. Infra.↩
  2. See Article XII, secs. 1 and 5, Constitution of the Philippines Adopted by the Philippine Constitutional Convention at the City of Manila, Philippine Islands, on the 8th Day of February 1935, Senate Document No. 43, 74th Cong., 1st sess. (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1935).↩