My dear Mr. Secretary: 
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Reference is made to your Department's letter of 
January 28, 1938 in which you request the viewa of this 
Department with respect to leasing Jarvis Island to the 
t 
Pacific Guano and Fertilizer Company of Honolulu, Hawaii, 
on a royalty basis for the purpose of mining and selling 
, • '. ‘ . /% ' . , . . •• . -v , t 
■ • ' ' ■ •' , ' i ♦ ■' i 
phosphate rock and inquire whether there has been filed 
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with this Department by the Coman Oceanographic Expedl- 
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tion a claim to all guano and phosphates on Jarvis, 
t ' • 
Baker and Howland Islands. 
In reply you are informed that a search of the 
Department's files has failed to disclose any record 
of a claim of the nature indicated having been filed 
by the Coman Oceanographic Expedition. There is enclosed, 
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however, a copy of the petition of the Oceanic Nitrates 
♦ 
« 
Corporation of September 24, 1935 for the issuance of a 
The Honorable 
! 
Harold L. Ickes, 
Secretary of the Interior. 
