The Argentine Minister to the Secretary of State.

[Translation.]

My Esteemed Secretary of State: I received last night by cable the agreeable instructions from my Government inviting you to visit the Argentine Republic, if your trip to Brazil is effected. It was my desire to hand to you, personally, the invitation, but to do this I would have had to wait until Thursday next, or else to request a special interview, which would be equivalent to taking from you precious time of which you are always so much in need. For this reason I hasten to fulfill, by means of these lines, the to me grateful order received, the more so as I possess a deep faith in the practical results of your trip, to the point that, from the viewpoint of the approximation of the two great portions of our hemisphere will have been accomplished, in my judgment, in a single day, that which initiatives of every description, toward the same end, have not succeeded in bringing about in half a century.

I have the honor, etc.,

Epifanio Portela.