File No. 815.51/341.
The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Secretary of State.
Tegucigalpa, June 13, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith, as of possible interest in the matter of the financial condition of this country and the various loan proposals which have been made in the past, a copy1 of El Nuevo Tiempo, of Saturday the 8th of June last, No. 356, in which appeared two diplomatic notes, the one from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Salvador addressed to the Minister of Foreign [Page 618] Affairs of this country and the other from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras in reply to the former in regard to the matter of the financial condition of Honduras.
In his letter to Dr. Vásquez the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Salvador states that his Government, actuated by the highest motives of friendship and fraternity and appreciating the present financial crisis which faces the Government of Honduras, is desirous to be of assistance to that Government with a view of ameliorating this condition and offers its financial assistance.
In reply to the note from the Salvador an Government the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras, expressing the appreciation of his Government of the generosity of this offer on the part of Salvador, states that his Government is in the midst of a very difficult interior economic situation which it is laboring to overcome and states that his Government is resolved to improve the internal conditions and to eventually take up seriously the matter of the foreign debt, considering many proposals which have been and are being made to it with this in view. He refers to the loan proposal which the Government of General Dávila contracted in the United States and which he states that the present Government found too burdensome, and that his Government would keep in view the friendly proposal of Salvador for the time when it will be prepared to definitely consider the matter of the foreign loan.
I have been informed from sources which I consider reasonably reliable that the Salvadoran proposal, although emanating from Salvador, is made in cooperation with financial interests of the Argentine Republic, but this I cannot confirm. Recently, in a conversation with the Salvadoran Minister near this Government, I was informed that the Minister was under instructions from his Government to discuss the matter of a loan with the Honduran Government and that the Salvadoran Government was very anxious that the matter of the financial situations in Honduras and Nicaragua should be settled, if possible, through the assistance of Salvador because it was believed it would be better for the Governments of Central America to be the first to assist each other in time of difficulty, such as the present, rather than that these Governments be compelled to accept assistance from Governments beyond Central America.
An identic note to that which was addressed by Salvador to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras has been presented to the Government of Nicaragua.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩