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The Secretary of State to the Minister in Nicaragua ( Lane )

No. 101

Sir: The Department has received your confidential despatch No. 293 of June 26, 1934, with further reference to the proposed bond law to satisfy the awards of the Nicaraguan Claims Commission.

[Page 573]

Your course of action in this matter is approved. As has previously been pointed out, the Commission is a domestic tribunal and the matter of its operation as well as the means which shall be provided to meet its awards are purely domestic questions. While the Department is desirous that American claimants shall obtain a just settlement of their claims, it does not consider that formal representations in their behalf are warranted in the present circumstances. However, should your opinion be requested by the Nicaraguan authorities, or should a favorable opportunity for expressing it arise, you may point out that a just settlement of the claims would seem to be in the interest of the Nicaraguan Government, since otherwise the claims may become the subject of diplomatic discussion. The rendering of an award without providing the means to satisfy it does not, of course, discharge the obligations of the Nicaraguan Government toward the claimants.

Very truly yours,

For the Secretary of State:
Sumner Welles