839.00/2282: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in the Dominican Republic ( Russell )

46. Your 56, December 23, 5 p.m.

The Department has given serious consideration to the recommendations which you have made after further conference with the Military Governor regarding the members of the Commission. The Department agrees with your suggestion that Don Eliseo Espaillat should be appointed a member thereof. The Department has, however, determined that Doctor Enrique Jimenez and Don Mario Fermin Cabral should be appointed to membership on the Commission in place of Rolando Martinez and Manuel J. Lluveres. The Department considers it inadvisable that any Provincial Governor be appointed to the Commission and considers it wise, for reasons of policy, to include in the personnel of the Commission Jimenez and Cabral.

You may, therefore, inform the Military Governor that the Department has determined that the Commission should be appointed as above indicated. In the event that any of the Dominicans whom the Department desires appointed to the Commission are unwilling to accept the office, the Department desires your recommendations as to substitutes. You may likewise notify the Military Governor that the personnel of the Commission has been determined by the Department of State and by the Navy Department and that steps should be taken immediately to ascertain whether the nine men indicated for appointment are willing to undertake these duties. In the opinion of the Department, it will be necessary to pay at least a nominal salary to the members of the Commission during the life of the Commission, since several of the members, it is understood, are without private means.

The Department has not as yet determined upon the appointment of the Technical Advisor to the Commission. It is reluctant to agree to the appointment of any official so closely identified with the Military Government as Judge Ostrand. The question will, however, be given further consideration.

Davis