839.51/4433
The Secretary of State to
the Minister in the Dominican Republic (Schoenfeld)
No. 449
Washington, August 18, 1936.
Sir: With reference to your despatch No. 3452,
of August 5, last, enclosing a copy of a note dated July 30, 1936, from
the Dominican Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in regard to the
floating debt of the Dominican Government, and referring also to your
despatch No. 3454 of the same date, reporting a conversation on this
subject with the Foreign Secretary, the Department encloses a draft note
with the request that you communicate its contents to the Dominican
Government.
Very truly yours,
For the Secretary of State:
Sumner
Welles
[Enclosure]
Draft of Note To Be Presented to the Dominican
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Bonetti
Burgos)
Excellency: By instruction of my
Government, I have to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s
note of July 30, last, which was in reply to my note of June 18,
respecting the floating debt of the Dominican Government.
My Government desires me to say that it was not without surprise that
it found in the penultimate paragraph of Your Excellency’s note the
statement that the communication did not “in any wise carry with it
either express or tacit acceptance of any expression” in my note of
June 18 “which might be considered in conflict with the sovereignty
of the Dominican State”. My Government is at a loss to understand
how any expression or implication contained in my note could
possibly be construed as being in any way inconsistent with the
recognition of the full sovereignty of the Dominican Republic, a
condition which my Government has consistently recognized. The
communication which I had the honor to address to Your Excellency by
instruction of my Government was confined solely to bringing to the
attention of the Dominican Government in the most friendly spirit
the question of the liquidation of a debt held largely by American
nationals
[Page 474]
who have
received small or no payments upon the amounts due them,
notwithstanding the substantial amounts made available to the
Dominican Government by the Emergency Law of October, 1931, and by
the settlement with the Foreign Bondholders’ Protective Council,
Incorporated, in August, 1934, and despite the materially increased
income of the Dominican Government from other sources during the
last five years. In this regard, my Government was reassured to note
in Your Excellency’s communication under acknowledgment that the
Dominican Government was making efforts to liquidate the floating
debt within the shortest time possible.
With respect to Law No. 1096 of April 29, 1936, and its effect upon
American claimants of the floating debt, I am directed by my
Government to reiterate to Your Excellency what I said in my note of
June 18, namely, that my Government will not regard failure of
American claimants to re-submit claims already approved and
evidenced by certificates or “analyses” as altering in any way the
attitude of my Government concerning the claims or as changing the
international responsibility of the Dominican Government in the
matter. These claims had been submitted, it will be recalled, in
accordance with the prescribed requirements of the Dominican
Government, and after consideration by the appropriate Dominican
authorities, they were approved for the amounts indicated in the
certificates or “analyses”.
