Mr. Lazo Arriaga to Mr. Olney.
Washington , January 15, 1897 .
Mr. Secretary: On the 9th of April last I had the honor to address a note to your excellency informing you that on the 15th day of March next there will be opened in Guatemala City the first Central American Exposition, which will include a “foreign department,” and that my Government charged me to express to your excellency the pleasure it would afford Guatemala to see exhibited in said “foreign department” the works of art, products, etc., of the United States of America.
Important manufacturing interests of this country have suggested the propriety of placing the exhibits of the United States under the [Page 334] superintendence of an official commissioner to introduce and appropriately present at the Central American Exposition the articles which to this end may be sent to him; and my Government, which is ever ready to welcome every initiative whatever that may contribute to mutual benefit and tend to draw closer the relations between our two countries, instructs me to say to your excellency that it would be pleased to see the appointment of such a commissioner, who, on the other hand, would be cordially received and waited on by the central committee of the Central American Exposition.
It gratifies me to avail myself of this occasion to renew, etc.,