Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1935, The Far East, Volume III

711.922/74

Draft of Note From the Secretary of State to the Siamese Minister ( Rajamaitri )⁹

undated

Sir: I refer to your distinguished predecessor’s note under date October 16, 1933,¹⁰ communicating to me an expression of desire on the part of the Siamese Government to have eliminated or modified certain provisions of the existing Treaty of Friendship and Commerce between the United States and Siam, and to my note of November 2, 1933,¹¹ in which I expressed the readiness of this Government to enter into discussions with the Siamese Government with a view to modification or amendment of those provisions of the Treaty to which the Siamese Government referred; and to your recent expression, on behalf of your Government, of the desire that negotiations be proceeded with looking toward modification of Article III of the Treaty.

The American Government has, in the light of your recent representations, given renewed consideration to this matter and is now prepared to enter, in conformity with the suggestion made by you, into negotiations looking toward revision of Article III of the Treaty. This Government is prepared to assent to an elimination of any provision operating to prohibit or to restrict the creation by the Siamese Government of monopolies. At the same time, the American Government will expect that the Siamese Government take appropriate note of the spirit of accommodation thus manifested by the American Government and that it will, in the same spirit, undertake to refrain from monopolizing the importation, distribution or sale of any commodity to the prejudice of the interests of American nationals, private and corporate, now possessing in Siam property necessary for the importation, distribution or sale of such commodity.

In the same relation, the American Government would be highly gratified if the Siamese Government, reciprocating the friendly disposition of the American Government, could see its way clear to extend to American nationals the benefits of any more favorable position in regard to tenure of land in Siam that may now be held by, or hereafter be granted to, nationals of any third country.

Accept [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:

9. The Assistant Secretary of State handed the original draft to the Siamese Minister, December 2.
10. Foreign Relations, 1933, vol. iii, p. 767.
11. Ibid., p. 770.