Special Message to Congress on Persian Indemnity

To the Congress of the United States:

I transmit herewith a communication from the Secretary of State with regard to the utilization, for the education of Persian students in the United States, of certain funds received and to be received from,the Persian Government in a sum not to exceed $110,000, which are being paid by that Government in reimbursement of the expenses incurred in connection with the return to the United States on the U.S.S. Trenton of the remains of the late Vice Consul Robert W. Imbrie, who was killed in Teheran on July 18, 1924.

It is my earnest hope that the Congress will see fit to authorize the setting aside of all funds received from the Persian Government on this account, not to exceed $110,000, to be spent for educational purposes as aforementioned under such conditions as the Secretary of State may prescribe. Such action by the Congress will tend to foster friendly relations between the United States and Persia and will be in line with the precedent already sanctioned by the Congress in the case of the Boxer indemnity fund.

In view of the fact that one-half of the $110,000 has already been received and as the balance is expected shortly to be paid by the Persian Government, I trust that the Congress will grant the necessary authority at the present session in order that the funds in question may not lie idle during the coming year.

CALVIN COOLIDGE

THE WHITE HOUSE, February 19, 1925.