HENRY L. STIMSON - TYPED LETTER SIGNED - HFSID 3810

HENRY L. STIMSON. TLS: "Henry L. Stimson" as Hoover's Secretary of State, 2½p, 8x12½, separate sheets. No place or date, but Washington, 1929 October. To President Hoover, the White House. In part: "Charles J. Harrah, an American citizen, built in 1908 on public domain in Cuba a railroad on the beaches of Marianao, Jaimanitas, Santa Fe and Santa Ana in the province of Habana. This railroad was built for the purpose of transporting sand and rock from points of production to places of consumption and was operated as a part of a sand and rock enterprise. This railroad, and the sand and rock business was operated for a number of years by Mr. Harrah. In 1917, the railroad, trackage, round houses, bridges, and rolling stock were destroyed under cover of an order of the Secretary of Treasury of Cuba, against the protest of the claimant to the President of Cuba, the Secretary of Treasury of Cuba, and the Secretary of Public Works. Following an earnest effort through diplomatic correspondence to obtain payment of an indemnity in behalf of Mr. Harrah, a protocol was signed on October 1, 1929, in which the Government of Cuba agreed with the Government of the United States to submit the claim for adjudication to a commission composed of one American citizen and one Cuban citizen ...The Commission is to hold its first meeting on November 29, 1929, at Habana. Under the terms of the protocol, each Government shall pay its own expenses...It is estimated that the probable expense to the Government of the United States will be approximately $20,000. It is recommended that you submit to the Congress a request for an appropriation in that amount..." Official letters from a Secretary of State to the President are rarely encountered. Rust stains from paper clip at upper left, light purple stains in blank lower right, else in fine condition.