File No. 814.48/28
The Guatemalan Minister to the Secretary of State
Washington, December 31, 1917.
Mr. Secretary of State: By a cablegram received today the President of Guatemala directs me to offer to your excellency and through your worthy medium to the American Government the most earnest and heartfelt thanks for the great sympathy it has kindly manifested on the occasion of the misfortune that befell the City of Guatemala as a sequel of the earthquakes that laid it in ruins.
In the midst of the consternation that spreads over my country at this time on account of the destruction of its capital in which we all fondly saw the fruit of the sociability and work of several generations, most gratifying is the solace that comes to Guatemala from the United States not only in the shape of words teeming with affection but also through prompt and efficient relief of the sufferings of the victims.
All this constitutes a lien upon the gratitude of my country and Government and your excellency will permit me to beg you to accept the expression of the most profound and sincere gratitude which I have the honor to address to your excellency with a request that you convey it to the Government of the United States whose ever cordial friendship manifests itself in the present circumstances in so many delicate ways which my Government and country highly appreciate and most thankfully acknowledge.
I have seen and been deeply moved by your excellency’s instructions to Mr. Thurston, Chargé d’Affaires at Guatemala, to tender the sympathy and aid of the United States, and I have read, again moved by the same sentiment of affection for the great American Republic, the message which His Excellency the President was pleased to send to the President of Guatemala and in which I found the true expression of the noble altruistic soul of this admirable people. All this has left a deep impression in my heart.
The activities of the American Red Cross in sending relief to Gautemala to the full extent of the State Department’s recommendation is a new page added by the venerable institution to its record of service to mankind throughout the world and my Government appreciates and is thankful for its efforts in behalf of a suffering people.
I beg your excellency to accept my reiterated sincere thanks to your excellency for your kind, delicate attentions in my country’s distress The Department of State further supplied me with the news it received until the Legation could communicate with Guatemala. The Latin American Division under the very able and faithful direction of Mr. Jordan Herbert Stabler has also earned our gratitude for its most intelligent activity and zeal.
I renew to your excellency [etc.]