File No. 832.61333/107.
The American Ambassador to the Secretary of State.
Rio de Janeiro, November 8, 1912.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Brazil just now informed me that he had heard that legal proceedings against valorized coffee will be taken in the United States on November 14th. He is extremely regretful that the promise of the valorization committee to liquidate its stock of coffee now in New York by the end of January has not resulted as he had hoped. The Foreign Minister fears that it may be difficult to prevent public opinion in Brazil from erroneously inferring that the Government of the United States is unfriendly to Brazil. He believes that the people of Brazil will draw this inference from the fact of the revival of this delicate subject upon which Brazil is peculiarly sensitive and which would automatically disappear within a short time. The Embassy is firmly of the belief that it would be most advantageous to our position in Brazil to postpone further legal action until after the adjournment of the Brazilian Congress on December 31st, since American commerce and industry is likely to derive considerable advantage from pending legislation which should be closed by that date.