File No. 814.48/17
President Cabrera to President Wilson
I accept with immense gratitude the expression of sympathy which Your Excellency deigns to send to the people of Guatemala and me on the occasion of the earthquake which destroyed this capital and other neighboring towns. Your message breathes sincerity and is just what I expected from the President of the Nation which distinguished itself by its philanthropic and altruistic sentiments and whose humanitarian ideas raised it to a high station among the peoples. Our situation is certainly very trying; and this enhances the merit of Your Excellency’s generous offer to help Guatemala. But unable to make a precise statement with respect to that assistance where so much is called for, I will confine myself to taking the liberty of commending it to Your Excellency’s generous sentiments and high judgment knowing as I do the tried friendship of Your Excellency and of the American people for the Guatemalan people and Government which friendship is truly reciprocated.