422.11G93/1148: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Minister in Ecuador (Hartman)
41. Your 75, November 4 noon, and 77, November 20, 11 a.m.29
The Department desires you to obtain an interview with President Tamayo and inform him that the failure of the Government of Ecuador to remit to London the sums due for the service of the Guayaquil and Quito Railroad bonds is causing this Government considerable concern. The Department is well aware of the present critical financial situation in Ecuador and has endeavored, as the President is doubtless advised, in every way possible to assist the Minister of Ecuador in Washington in his efforts to negotiate with American banking interests a solution of the difficulty. You may assure the President that his Government may continue to count upon the assistance of this Government in every way possible and proper, but that in its opinion the situation is rendered more difficult of solution by the failure of the Government of Ecuador to meet its obligations.
You may further discreetly advise the President that the attention of the Department has been drawn to an alleged interview with the President recently published in the London Times,30 in which the President is quoted as favoring foreclosures of the railway by the British bondholders. If the President confirms the accuracy of this statement, you may make representations to him in accordance with the Department’s previous instruction and advise him of the Department’s regret at his attitude towards a legitimate American enterprise, [Page 204] the affairs of which are being carried on in accordance with the provisions of an award made by representatives of the Government of Ecuador and of the Government of the United States.31 You may also intimate to the President that such an expression of policy on the part of his Administration does not enhance the credit of the Government of Ecuador and is not likely to impress favorably the American bankers who have the proposed refunding loan under consideration.
- Latter not printed.↩
- Sept. 7, 1920.↩
- See despatch no. 407, Dec. 11, 1908, from the Minister in Ecuador, Foreign Relations, 1908, p. 274.↩