File No. 814.0441/1.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Guatemala, September 28, 1910.
Sir: I have the honor to report that I have secured from President Estrada Cabrera a promise which will aid greatly in bringing about a more satisfactory situation for Americans in Guatemala.
In a conversation with His Excellency on September 20 I spoke to him of the unnecessary difficulties with which we have to contend and pointed out to him the impossibility of obtaining the least information from any official source concerning cases involving American interests. I suggested that His Excellency would lighten the burden of his foreign office and of the department of government and justice as well as of this office by privately instructing the judiciary to attend with good will to confidential requests for information concerning [Page 275] American cases made by the minister or consul general. His Excellency promised me to give such confidential instructions and to give my proposal a thorough trial.
I have, etc.,