811F.504/154½
The Ambassador in Panama (Dawson) to
the Secretary of State
No. 88
Panamá, September 5,
1939.
[Received September 8.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the
Department’s instruction No. 19 of August 19, 1939 (no file number),
authorizing me to transmit to the Panamanian Government a copy of the
text of a statement made by President Roosevelt at the time of giving
his approval to H. R. 5129.
A copy of the text of the statement was furnished the Panamanian Foreign
Office with a note of August 23, and I am today in receipt of a reply
dated September 2 of which I enclose a copy and an English
translation.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure—Translation]
The Panamanian Minister for Foreign Affairs
(Garay)
to the American Ambassador (Dawson)
D. D. No. 1954
Panamá, September 2,
1939.
Mr. Ambassador: I take pleasure in
acknowledging the receipt of Your Excellency’s courteous
communication No. 53 of the 23rd instant, with which you were good
enough to send me a copy of the text of the statement made by His
Excellency President Franklin D. Roosevelt at the time of giving his
approval to the Act of the Congress of the United States which
authorizes the construction of additional facilities on the Panama
Canal and provides the means therefor.
The Foreign Office has read with profound satisfaction the above
mentioned statement in which President Roosevelt reminds the
legislators of his country of the precedents which for over thirty
years
[Page 752]
have guided the
policy of the United States in its relations with Panamá and in
particular the principle of equality of treatment between
Panamanians and Americans in the Canal Zone.
This Government is confident that the statement of the President of
the United States will bring about shortly the effect desired and
that the American legislators will respond to the appeal made to
them by the Chief Executive of that great country not to depart from
the norms of justice and equity which have inspired in this respect
the Public Administration of the United States nor from the
commitments entered into by the Department of State with the
Panamanian Negotiators, as is of record in the minutes of session
No. 107 held in Washington, on February 1, 1936, at 11 a.m.
I shall be grateful if Your Excellency will be good enough to
transmit to His Excellency Mr. Roosevelt the expression of the
lively gratitude with which Panamá received his gallant statement,
as respects both public opinion and official circles.
I avail myself [etc.]
