Office of the Historian

811F.504/213

Memorandum by President Roosevelt to the Secretary of War (Woodring)

[Washington,] February 8, 1940.

I have your letter of February fifth48 in regard to bills relating to the employment of American citizens by contractors in the Canal Zone. [Page 1105] I cannot in good conscience sign the present bills, H. E. 7941 and S. 3130,49 on the mere chance that another bill submitted through the Budget will later become law and thus remove restrictions on employment of Panama citizens. I must uphold the Treaty and it is, therefore, essential that the language relating to Panamanian citizens should be incorporated in the present bills before they are passed.

Please tell this to the Committees and to the introducers of the bills.

F[ranklin] D. R[oosevelt]
  1. Not found in Department files.↩
  2. For texts, see Congressional Record, vol. 86, pt. 1, pp. 745 and 906.↩