817.812/845a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Nicaragua (Nicholson)
55. Please inform the appropriate officials of the Government of Nicaragua that in accordance with the terms of section 1, paragraph 3 of the letter of May 22, 1939 from the President to President Somoza a board of eight officers and employees of the Corps of Engineers, United States Army, and the United States Engineer Department, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles P. Gross, will leave New York en route to Nicaragua on August 10 on the S. S. Panama. Two members of the board will arrive in Corinto by steamship from Panama about August 25, and the remainder of the party will proceed from Panama to Managua on a United States army plane on August 20. Names of the members of the board will be sent to you by air mail in order that appropriate arrangements can be made in connection with their arrival.
The expenses of the mission and the cost of preparation of its report in connection with the proposed canalization will be paid from an appropriation of $100,000 which has now been made available by the Congress for this purpose. For your confidential information it is hoped that additional funds for the completion of the report may be appropriated by the Congress at a later time if it should be necessary. It is expected that the present appropriation will be adequate to complete the work of the mission in the field.