810.154/3099
The Ambassador in Honduras (Erwin) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 25.]
Sir: With reference to this Embassy’s despatch No. 163, dated June 25 [24] 1943,13 the Department’s circular telegram of September 14, 7 p.m., and Department’s telegram No. 248 of September 17, 11 p.m.,14 I have the honor to report that since the notification of stoppage on the Pioneer Highway was received, Captain George H. Barton, U.S.E.D.,15 came to Tegucigalpa on orders of Colonel Edwin C. Kelton, Director of the Pan American Highway, and discussed this subject both with the Embassy and the President of the Republic.16
Captain Barton stated he had instructions to call on President Carías and inform him concerning the decision to liquidate the Pioneer Highway project. At his request I accompanied him to the Casa Presidencial on September 17; while I had not received the Department’s final instructions indicated as forthcoming in its circular telegram of September 14, 7 p.m., 1943, it appeared desirable that I should be a witness to any conversation Captain Barton had with the President on this subject. Captain Barton handled the matter discreetly, confining himself to the limited instructions of Colonel Kelton, which conformed to the language of the first paragraph of the Department’s circular telegram of September 14, 7 p.m.
[Page 81]President Carías, while obviously greatly disappointed, contented himself with asking that the liquidation be made as gradual as possible so as to permit the absorption of the workers elsewhere before the actual closing down occurred. Captain Barton told the President orders were being issued to stop work on October 31st; he further stated to the President that Colonel Kelton, as Director of the project, regretted he could not personally come to Tegucigalpa to give the notification.
There are approximately 4,000 persons employed on the Pan American Highway in Honduras; approximately 3,500 of these are constructing the Pioneer Highway. To throw this many persons out of work in so small a country as Honduras, and especially on the South Coast where there is virtually no other opportunity for employment, would produce serious repercussions on the economic and political life of the country. The effect will be felt throughout south and central Honduras. The continuation of the bridge construction will require only approximately 300 men.
While I am certain the Department has fully considered all phases of this subject, I venture to make the suggestion that if the Public Roads Administration (which will in any event, it is believed, continue with the construction of bridges on the Highway) could release out of the $3,000,000 originally authorized as provided by Public Law 375—77th Congress, approved December 26, 1941,17 sufficient funds to bring up to P. R. A.18 standards the sub-standard sections of the pioneer highway in Honduras resulting from the premature shutdown and the hasty joining up of uncompleted sections of the road, this would not only benefit the project by providing a Pan American Highway conforming for its entire length in Honduras to the specifications of the P. R. A.; but would keep much of the labor at work for several months longer.
It is my understanding that of the $2,000,000 which was allocated for the Honduran part of the Highway at the outset, plus the $1,000,000 which Honduras borrowed from the Export-Import Bank, less than $400,000 has been expended for bridges or otherwise. Thus it would seem that most of this money is still available for the continuation of the Honduran section of the highway.
One more important feature that should not, in my judgment, be overlooked is that before the private contractors who have performed this work under the supervision of the U.S.E.D. are released from their performance bonds all their obligations in the various communities should be squared. This Embassy has no late information on the [Page 82] amount owed to Honduran merchants by the private contractors, which was approximately Lempiras 150,000 a few months ago. Whatever is outstanding should be liquidated before the contractors are released; otherwise this Embassy and other agencies would be flooded with claims for a long time to come.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩
- Telegram No. 248 not printed.↩
- United States Engineer Department.↩
- Tiburcio Carias Andino.↩
- 55 Stat. 860; for a short résumé of the history of the Inter-American Highway Project since 1923 when the first steps toward cooperative action were taken, see Department of State Bulletin, May 10, 1941, p. 557.↩
- Public Roads Administration.↩