File No. 5315/593.
The Secretary of State to Ambassador Reid.1
Washington, November 17, 1909.
Mr. Knox informs Mr. Reid that he may represent to the British foreign office that the German group has now consented that an American engineer shall be appointed for the Hsiangyang-Kuangshui section to cooperate under the general direction of the German chief engineer, and that this arrangement has been approved by the German foreign office, which has at the same time officially recognized the equal rights of American and other nationals under the original and supplementary agreements and notably under article 18 of the latter, which reads:
With regard to article 18, such modifications or extensions of the provisions respecting the appointment of purchasing agents for the two lines as may be necessary to secure equal consideration for British, German, French, or American materials, and equal facilities for the receipt of tenders in the markets of the four countries, shall be made the subject of an equitable arrangement between the director general and the four banks.
Directs that he urge a like favorable decision at London in order that the agreements may be forthwith signed at Peking.
- Repeated to Berlin.↩