611.1831/155

The Minister in Costa Rica ( Sack ) to the Secretary of State

No. 1296

Sir: In further reference to my telegram No. 83 of November 28, 4 p.m.,28 informing the Department of the formal signature of the trade agreement with Costa Rica, I have the honor to enclose the official text of the agreement as signed. (To guard against eventualities in the air mail this text is being forwarded by boat mail.) The agreement was sent to the Congress by President Cortés on December first and has been referred by the Congress to the Committees on Foreign Relations and Finance jointly. I have been informed that it is unlikely that the Congress will take affirmative action until after the Christmas recess. Up to now there has been comparatively little newspaper discussion of the agreement, although the full text has been printed in Diario de Costa Rica which on December 3rd had this brief editorial in reference to the agreement:

“The commercial treaty with the United States went to Congress yesterday and passed on to be studied by the Foreign Relations and Finance committees jointly. It will doubtlessly be the object of careful study notwithstanding the fact that the long negotiations it went through with the Executive Power assure that already a great part of the effort required in the sense of public interest has been realized. But according to all probabilities the legislative ratification of this treaty will be left for next January.”

From all information received in the Legation it appears that the agreement has been well received by the Costa Rican public and I have been informed by President Cortés that he anticipates little opposition to its ratification by the Congress. This opinion was conveyed to me also by Acting Foreign Minister Fernandez and Finance Minister Gurdián. For the information of the Department I have learned that Mr. Otilio Ulate, publisher of Diario de Costa Rica and a member of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Congress, has informed friends that he intends to support the agreement. Mr. Ulate in a courtesy call upon me at the Legation following my return from the United States expressed gratification that the treaty had been signed, and although he had not then seen a copy of the text he declared that “it is a good thing for the country”. Mr. Ulate’s support, as the Department is aware, will help materially to speed up ratification.

May I take this occasion to express to the Department my appreciation of the considerate telegram No. 67 of November 28, 8 p.m.,28 expressing [Page 406] the gratification of Acting Secretary Moore to me and my associates for the signature of the agreement. It has given me pleasure to convey to the career personnel mentioned in the telegram, as well as to the other members of the staff, the gratification of the Department, as well as my own, for their conscientious devotion in the prolonged negotiation of this agreement. May I take this occasion also to express my own gratification to the Department and particularly to the personnel of the Latin American Division for their kind and sympathetic cooperation, as well as patience, in the negotiations of this agreement.

It is needless for me to review here the ups and downs of these negotiations over a period of approximately two years. It is sufficient to recall that “All’s Well that Ends Well”.

Respectfully yours,

Leo R. Sack
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