Message to Congress Transmitting the Recommendations of the International American Conference Regarding Postal and Cable Communications

To the Senate and House of Representatives:

I transmit herewith a letter from the Secretary of State, inclosing the recommendations of the International American Conference for the establishment of improved facilities for postal and cable communication between the United States and the several countries of Central and South America.

I can not too strongly urge upon Congress the necessity of giving this subject immediate and favorable consideration and of making adequate appropriations to carry the recommendations into effect; and in this connection I beg leave to call attention to what was said on the subject in my annual message. The delegates of the seventeen neighboring Republics, which have so recently been assembled in Washington at the invitation of this Government, have expressed their wish and purpose to cooperate with the United States in the adoption of measures to improve the means of communication between the several Republics of America. They recognize the necessity of frequent, regular, and rapid steamship service, both for the purpose of maintaining friendly intercourse and for the convenience of commerce, and realize that without such facilities it is useless to attempt to extend the trade between their ports and ours.

BENJ. HARRISON