Minister Hicks to the Secretary of State.
Santiago, November 11, 1907.
Sir: I find on my return to the legation that the subject of the Alsop claim has been revived, and that in my absence department’s dispatch No. 60, dated April 30, 1907, was received bearing instructions to take it up once more with the Chilean Government and attempt to have it finally settled.
Again, on June 26 of this year, department cabled to this legation: “Cable any offer of settlement that may be made by Chile.”
Acting on this suggestion, Mr. Janes, the chargé d’affaires, waited on the minister of foreign affairs several times, trying to get from him some proposition looking to a settlement of the long-standing account.
At length, on August 1, as detailed in Mr. Janes’s dispatch No. 163, dated August 5, the minister of foreign affairs authorized an offer of $568,192.67 (Chilean gold pesos).
On October 29 I received department’s unnumbered dispatch, dated September 19, confirming department’s alleged telegram of September 12,2 notifying me that claimants declined to accept the sum tendered by Chile. No such telegram was ever received at this legation or in the Santiago office of the cable company, but I immediately notified department of the fact by cable, dated October 31, and added that I would at once act upon the instructions in the dispatch.
Accordingly, on the 2d instant I sent to the foreign office a note informing the minister that the proposition could not be accepted, and asking him for a reply to Mr. Janes’s communication of June 27, which up to that time had been answered only by an impersonal note simply acknowledging its receipt.
I have another matter of some importance to cummunicate to the department. The minister for foreign affairs informed me to-day that in the special report from the director of the treasury notifying him of the exact amount on hand to settle the Alsop claim a slight mistake was made. As I understood him, certain items of accrued interest had been omitted and the net amount on hand to pay the claim of Alsop & Co., instead of $568,192.67 (Chilean gold pesos), was $589,870.30 (Chilean gold pesos at 18 pence). I inquired again when [Page 146] this amount could be paid, and the minister replied that the sum could be paid at once if the garnishee suit of Juana Lopez Gama was settled.
I would suggest that action be taken on this matter as quickly as possible, in order that, if anything is to be done, it shall be done quickly. A change of administration might seriously interfere with the arrangements and indefinitely postpone any action.
Your obedient servant,
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