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[612]

Secretary Bryan

States that Mr. Osborn is preparing for a trip
to Haiti and Santo Domingo. As transportation is
not easily arranged, suggests that the gunboat PETREL,
now at Galveston and which has asked the Department for
permission to go to Havana to give the crew shore leave,
be ordered to take Mr. Osborn from Havana to Haiti and
Santo Domingo, stopping at such points as he needs to
visit.

Says he has found that the Mole St. Nicholas is a
very desirable harbor, and proposes that Mr. Osborn
undertake negotiations for a block of land ten miles
square, embracing the harbor and affording sufficient
land on the shore to prevent attack from the land.

Will submit proposal to Secretaries of War and Navy
and ask them to let the President have their views on
plan.

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