Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 3, 1912
File No. 033.1100K77/165.]
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Guatemala, April 8, 1912.
Sir: I have the honor to make the following report, for the records of the Department, of your recent official visit to this country.
Previous to your arrival you were declared by presidential decree to be a “guest of honor of the nation”. This action was taken with a [Page 513] view to the honor implied and also from the fact that according to the official etiquette of the country a visiting Minister for Foreign Affairs is entitled only to the same treatment as a Minister Plenipotentiary. * * *
Your arrival had been expected for the 18th or 19th of March whereas it took place on the 14th, thereby somewhat hurrying the preparations. * * *
At 6 P.M. you were received in solemn audience by the President, all the higher officials of State being present. A copy of your address to the President I have the honor to enclose herewith, together with a copy accompanied by translation, of the President’s reply. After the exchange of these speeches you held a few minutes conversation with the President before retiring. * * *
At 8 o’clock the banquent given in your honor in the name of the Government by the Minister for Foreign Affairs took place at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A copy, with translation, of the Minister’s speech together with a copy of your reply, I beg leave to enclose herewith. * * *
On March 15 after a private luncheon you proceeded shortly after 4 o’clock in the afternoon to the Legislative Palace where you were received in solemn session by the Legislature. A copy, with translation, of the address of the President of the Legislative Power, together with a copy of your reply, I beg leave to transmit herewith.
Upon the termination of this ceremony the faculty of law of the University of Guatemala conferred upon you, in an adjoining room, the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws of the university. * * *
In the evening you attended the farewell banquet given in your honor by the President of the Republic, at which some 90 to 100 persons were present. A copy, with translation, of the President’s address, together with a copy of your reply is appended to this despatch.
On March 17 at 9 a. m. you left the city by special train, preceded by a pilot train, for Puerto Barrios, stopping at Quirigua for one hour to inspect the ancient ruins of Maya civilization at that place and being afforded a view of an unsually good example of tropical Central-American forest. A few minutes after reaching Puerto Barrios you embarked upon the U. S. S. Washington and proceeded to Venezuela. * * *
I have [etc.]
Speech of Mr. Knox upon his reception by the President of Guatemala, March 14, 1912.
Mr. President: I received on the quarter-deck of the Maryland this morning the courteous message of welcome which you sent to me by the distinguished gentlemen whom I had then the honor to meet. From that moment to the present nothing but expressions and evidences of the most cordial and general hospitality have met my ear and my eye upon every side. I construe this to indicate, Mr. President, that you and your Government and your people accept in its true meaning the purpose of the President and people of the United States in sending me to your country as a messenger of friendliness and good will. The intimate relations and friendship that have heretofore [Page 514] happily existed between our two countries must necessarily grow closer and stronger as Pan-American civilization develops, and they will be much accelerated by the completion of the great commercial highway at Panama, which will in a peculiar sense draw the republics of this hemisphere closer together. I beg you to accept my thanks, the thanks of my party, and, through us, of the people, and President of the United States for this dignified and courteous reception, and to assure you that I am encouraged to believe that our short stay among you will be most pleasant and profitable to us, and, I trust, likewise conducive to the closer union and better understanding between the peoples of the two Republics.
Reply of the President of Guatemala.
Mr. Secretary of State: The cordial words I have just heard from your excellency’s lips fill me with the liveliest satisfaction, since they express your appreciation of the sincere demonstrations of good will and affection which my Government, in the name of the people of Guatemala, has offered to you upon your arrival in this country, which is enjoying in these moments the great honor of being visited by the representative of a nation with which my country happily cultivates such good and friendly relations.
As the cradle and champion of American freedom, as the flowing fount of human progress and the potent arm of labor, the American Union merits the respect and esteem of every nation and the affection of those who can interpret the sentiments with which its statesmen and thinkers are inspired. From day to day it unfailingly makes new conquests in every branch of human activity. Its influence is bringing about closer relations between the nations of the continent, and the perfect harmony which has always characterized its relations with Guatemala justifies the enthusiasm with which the Government of this Republic welcomes your excellency as a messenger of concord and affection from the Government of the United States to the nations surrounding the Panama Canal, which, upon the completion of this gigantic work, will be more intimately linked with the great Republic of the north by new ties of commerce and culture.
In wishing your excellency and the distinguished persons who accompany you on your visit the most pleasant stay among us, I beg that you please give to His Excellency the President of the United States the thanks of the people and the Government of Guatemala for the honor conferred upon them by the visit of His Excellency the Secretary of State of that nation, and present to him my wishes for his personal happiness and the welfare and prosperity of the American people.
Speech of Señor Don Luis Toledo Herrarte, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at a banquet given in honor of Mr. Knox at Guatemala City, March 14, 1912.
Gentlemen: The just rejoicing of the people and the Government of Guatemala in welcoming to their midst his excellency the Secretary of State of the United States is but the natural consequence of the brotherly love inspired by the powerful Republic of the north which for more than a century has been the paladin of American freedom, and constitutes a testimony of the great value we attach to the visit of so eminent a continental personality. Under such happy circumstances Guatemala can not forget the aid which her nascent sovereignty encountered a hundred years ago in the United States, nor the good and loyal friendship she has fostered for it during all her independent life and which is so brilliantly confirmed on the present occasion.
The American Union has won for itself the esteem and admiration of all the civilized world for its progress, which, marked with letters of gold in the world’s history, demonstrates clearly the possibilities of the combination of liberty and labor. It is an exemplar in modern ages to the younger nations and worthy of study by even the older countries, which in things politic, as [Page 515] shown in the French Revolution, can adopt the principles of the assembly of Philadelphia and in industry, commerce, and science apply to their respective needs the product of the marvelous progress realized by this wonderful country in every branch of human activity.
A cyclopean work, as though the manifold ones already accomplished were not enough, will soon proclaim, with the opening of the Panama Canal, the greatness and the power of American genius. Thanks to the efforts of man, the obstacles placed by nature between the two great seas of the world will be demolished for the benefit of the peoples of both, hemispheres and following this stupendous conquest of labor the activities of the universe will revolve as though around the axis and center of the globe, and the nations on each side will see the rapid development of their resources and of the numberless elements of life which nature so prodigally has lavished upon them.
In this proximate evolution a special place belongs to Guatemala, included, as it is, in the continental zone, where the influence of the Panama Canal will most be felt, and thus once more will American initiative and effort be the promoters of the growth of the industry and commerce of our Republic.
The trade relations of Guatemala with the United States have grown to such proportions, with the facilities offered by railroads and steamship lines, that during the last few years there is no nation with which our country has maintained more active commerce or a more valuable interchange of the products of the soil and industry.
The interest of American merchants and manufacturers in our Republic becomes keener every day, finding new outlets and new practical manifestations, thus giving rise to the most intimate and perfect relationship, which in this way effectively makes for a more binding intimacy, which both countries by mutual effort wish to bring about, since they happily are united by identic sentiments of cordiality and good understanding.
Men of peace and good will direct the Governments of the nations whose flags, now intertwined, symbolize their amicable intercourse, and a messenger of peace and cordial feeling is the illustrious statesman who honors us with his presence in this country, and whom the Government of Guatemala receives and welcomes with the heartiness and sympathy which is due the free American people and to the Government which so skillfully guides its destinies.
Gentlemen, while offering this homage in the name of the Government of the Republic to his excellency the Secretary of State of the United States and the distinguished persons of his party who accompany him, I ask you to drink with me to the uninterrupted greatness of the United States, to the personal happiness of its worthy President, and to the welfare of its eminent representative, who has come to make so eloquent a public demonstration of the friendship of the American people and Government for the people and Government of Guatemala.
Reply of Mr. Knox.
Mr. President and Mr. Minister: You may have thought it strange that, after the courteous toast of the Minister for Foreign Affairs, I did not rise during the playing of your national air. I wanted to arise alone and thus distinctively and by word of mouth to pay my respects to the beautiful strains of your noble national hymn. One can not travel long in this genial clime without exhausting his vocabulary of grateful expressions and thanks. I have much to be thankful for, much to be grateful for, since I came to Central America. From Panama, the most southern of the Isthmian republics, through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, at Honduras, Salvador, and finally here, where I am to say good-by in this beautiful country of Guatemala, I have received nothing but sympathetic kindness; and perhaps, Mr. Minister, one of the things I should be most thankful for is that when I was landed in your beautiful country in a basket in a not particularly dignified manner, when my legs were reaching for something firm upon which I might rest, and I was embarrassed by my own awkwardness, my eyes lighted upon your friendly countenance and that of your charming wife, whose acquaintance I had enjoyed in Washington, and I at once felt quite at home. My journey to this city to-day has been one of continuous delight. Your country surprises me with its beauty and its friendliness. The hospitality of your people cheered me. I was a stranger in a strange land, and nothing to a stranger in a strange [Page 516] land is so encouraging as welcome smiles from those who meet you along the highway. Not only did the adult population of your country greet us cordially, but what touched me most was the little children in their tidy costumes, whose countenances beamed with a genuine welcome, for there is no feigned hospitality in the countenance of the children; and here, Mr. President and Mr. Minister, permit me to say that in the education of your children you are laying an imperishable foundation for institutions of liberty. You are building for Guatemala a foundation upon which tyranny and oppression and injustice can never rest.
Mr. Minister, you spoke of the Convention at Philadelphia, referring, of course, to the Constitutional Convention, which constructed that great piece of statesmanship, the Constitution of the United States, which any American can say proudly and not immodestly is probably the greatest political instrument that has ever been constructed by man. The authors of our Constitution were not solving the problems of North America alone; they were solving the problems of the Western Hemisphere. To-day nearly one hundred and three score millions of people residing upon the Western Hemisphere (and that represents 90 per cent of its entire population) are engaged in trying to perfect the problem of popular government, and the men who worked out the first Constitution that has withstood the shocks of almost one hundred and twenty-five years were not only working out our problem, but they were working out yours. It was a great thing for the world that for fifty years prior to the Convention in Philadelphia, in the colonies of North America, the best talent of that day was given to the study of the principles of government. The works of the great writers upon political science of that epoch had been closely studied for fifty years prior to the American Revolution with a diligence and purpose unparalleled in any other country or at any other time. To illustrate: It has been said on the best authority that important political writings found a larger sale and closer perusal in the colonies of North America than they found in any part of Europe. You of Latin America have received, and you will continue to receive, the benefits of those studies and our experiment. You were not long behind us in demanding self-government, and when the time came when you determined to strike for freedom and to follow the example of your northern brothers we were instantaneous in our sympathetic recognition of your claims. We sustained you by recognition when the great powers of the world looked askance upon the American system of government, whose merits they now so frankly concede. We stood by you in your infancy; we have endeavored to encourage you in your rapidly maturing growth; and I am here in your country to-night to say to you, not only upon my own responsibility but speaking for the President of the United States and for the people of the United States, that we have but one thought for all of the sister republics of America, and that is that we want you to prosper, we want you to grow, we want you to be stronger, we want you to be always peaceful. That is the message that I bear to Guatemala to-night; that is the sentiment which is indorsed by the best elements of my country; and I want to assure the people of Guatemala, and I want to assure you, Mr. President, that in your efforts for your people, in your sincere endeavors to develop your country, in your desire to expand your friendship and to form closer and more binding ties with other nations of the world, Guatemala has the sympathy, as it will always have, where possible, the cooperation, of the United States.
Speech of Señor Don Arturo Ubico, President of the Legislative Assembly, to Mr. Knox on his reception by that body at Guatemala City, March 15, 1912.
Honorable Mr. Secretary: It is for me a great honor and a great pleasure to present, in the name of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic, our most cordial salutation to His Excellency the Secretary of State of the United States of America and welcome him to the midst of this representative body of the nation, thanking him at the same time for the courteous deference with which he has accepted the distinction accorded in his honor, the only one of the kind in the annals of our parliamentary history, and which is due not only to the [Page 517] high personal endowments of so honorable a guest, but also because of his labors in favor of all America, and because he is now representing in this country the American people, who have given us proof of their frank and loyal friendship, and the Government of that illustrious nation, which has always treated us with the most intense and fraternal interest.
As nature has placed the republic of the United States at the head of the continent, so the intelligence of its sons and their constant endeavor have placed it at the head of the civilization of America, and, ipso facto, it is morally bound before the world to secure the peace, the union, and concord of all the American nations as a fundamental basis for the development of their culture and their prosperity and as an indispensable preparation to carrying out satisfactorially the high ends and important destinies which the futures holds in store for them.
Some years ago prominent men of America, inspired with the ideals of Monroe, strengthened still more the basis of an essentially Pan-American policy; and to-day we see this policy converted into a reality and raised to the category of a truly official institution, which has already given excellent results in the economic order of Latin America.
Moreover, a stupendous event of an interest absolutely universal, soon to occur—the interoceanic canal across the Isthmus—would in itself justify, without regard to the wonderful works of civilization the world already owes to the United States, special manifestations of the good will and the gratitude of the nations of the Caribbean Sea, which are so especially benefited by that gigantic work.
From this is to be deduced that, although separated from the United States by ethnological influences, that country is beloved and respected by us, and our geographical position in the center of the Western Hemisphere binds us by ties that are strong and firm and of great practical importance in the strenuous life of modern intercourse; and well-understood patriotism advises us, therefore, that, without forgetting our firm friendship for other nations, we should nevertheless always maintain with the United States a policy of preferential and especial harmony, good understanding, and intimate cordiality, founded, quite naturally, on reciprocal justice and loyal frankness; and I ask your excellency, in the name of the people of this Republic, please so to inform the Government and people of North America, and that you also deign to receive the sincere wishes we extend for their welfare and for the personal happiness of your excellency.
Reply of Mr. Knox.
Permit me, Mr. President, to acknowledge and to thank you for the unprecedented honor the National Assembly of Guatemala has accorded me in receiving me in its midst to-day, thereby furnishing an additional evidence of the high regard in which the people and Government of Guatemala hold my country and its people.
Your felicitous reference to the great doctrine announced by President Monroe nearly a hundred years ago, which has since that time been solicitously, scrupulously, and unswervingly adhered to by the Government of the United States, has been a source of great satisfaction to me, and leads me, on passing through the last Central American Republic, to reiterate what I said on landing at Panama, and that is that “in my judgment the Monroe Doctrine will reach the acme of its beneficence when it is regarded by the people of the United States as a reason why we should constantly respond to the needs of those of our Latin-American neighbors who may find necessity for our assistance.”
Guatemala is to be highly congratulated because of her appreciation of the fundamental fact that in many things the highest interests of the State can be advanced by friendly coordination with other sovereign states in relation to matters of international common concern. Guatemala’s friendly participation in the centennial celebration of her neighboring republics and highly valuable participation in the conferences and congresses dealing with matters affecting Pan-American interests and her prompt ratification of the conventions providing for the unification of currency, weights, and measures, and the improvement of the consular service of Central America, are evidences of high international purposes and show an appreciative realization of the fact that intelligent [Page 518] international cooperation tends to advance the brotherhood of nations. This has been one of the high purposes and most consistent policies of the United States, and we have endeavored in such matters to act in concert with the other powers and to recognize the same high duty. Not only does such international cooperation advance civilization and improve the relations between States, but, as I have heretofore ventured to observe, will hasten the time, which I sincerely believe the future holds in store, when war shall cease; when the nations of the world shall realize a federation as real and vital as that now subsisting between the component parts of a single state; when the deliberate international conjunction of the strong shall universally help the weak; and when the corporate righteousness of the world shall destroy the habitations of injustice still lingering in the dark places of the earth.
Those ends so much to be desired, and so beneficial to humanity, are accelerated by the recognition of national interdependence and such international co-efficiency as the statesmen of your country have encouraged in the matters to which I have alluded.
Speech of Señor Licenciado Don Manuel Cabral, Dean of the University of Guatemala, when conferring a degree upon Mr. Knox, March 15, 1912.
Your Excellency: The significant fact of having among its members the most eminent personalities in the divers branches of human wisdom has ever been an honor and a glory to scientific and literary institutions, and because of this the most learned universities of Europe and America have been proud to have inscribed in their registers the most illustrious of the wise men of the world. This is a pride all the more legitimate, inasmuch as science and letters do not recognize frontiers and are the bonds which unite in fraternal intellectuality the minds which, by their culture, nobly represent their respective countries.
To-day one of the most notable figures of the great American Nation arrives upon Guatemalan soil, and this institution of learning, heir of our ancient and glorious university, the true alma mater of Central America, feels immense satisfaction and considers the inscription of the enlightened name of your excellency in the catalogue of the persons already there an event of inestimable value, and I have the honor to clothe you with the highest of our academic titles, with the grade of Doctor of Laws of the Facultad de Guatemala. At the same time this center of science wishes to tender you its homage of sympathy, respect, and admiration for the great qualities which adorn you, and which make you one of the most distinguished citizens of the most populous of democracies and an illustrious lawyer who, at home and abroad, adds so much brilliancy to the American forum.
Guatemala and the United States, your excellency, have always conserved the most perfect friendship. Never has even the lightest cloud arisen to darken the clear horizon of our countries, and these relations of cordial amity have been strengthened of late, thanks to the frequency of our intercourse, to the better understanding of our peoples, to greater mutual intimacy owing to their common ideas and aspirations, to the daily increasing commerce, and to the wisdom and patriotism of our respective Governments, who, by the rectitude of their acts and the faithful performance of their international duties, have succeeded in maintaining between the two peoples an unbroken peace, which is the fountain of all happiness and all progress.
The Facultad de Derecho y Notariado, an important organism of the State, charged with arousing and fomenting among its citizens the love of institutions and of the study of law, which is the principal base of national felicity, is not, nor can it be, unconscious of this good understanding, and now that one of the most illustrious citizens of the great land of Washington and Lincoln honors our country with his visit it takes the keenest pleasure in proffering him this humble evidence of its affection and its respectful appreciation.
May your excellency deign to favor it with your acceptance as a souvenir of your visit to Guatemala. We, in our turn, shall ever guard your name with respectful affection among the members of our profession, and the day in which you honored us by permitting us to inscribe your name prominently in our register will be an imperishable memory.
Reply of Mr. Knox.
Gentlemen of the Faculty: The unprecedented act of this ancient seat of learning in conferring upon me the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, with notarial powers, is an honor of which I am indeed proud. If, as I understand my informants, at no time and to no one has the university extended so marked an evidence of its good will, it is a distinction of such an unique character that while I feel unworthy of receiving it I am sure I shall always bear it in grateful remembrance.
The law was my first love, and, although she has always been termed a “jealous mistress,” yet, after a quarter century of devotion, I was lured away by the blandishments of political life, but I am not without hope that time holds for me the good fortune of a return to the profession.
Let me again express to you, gentlemen of the Faculty of the National University of Guatemala, my gratitude and my thanks.
Speech of His Excellency Bon Manuel Estrada Cabrera, President of Guatemala, at a banquet given by him to Mr. Knox, March 16, 1912.
It was indeed a happy thought of His Excellency the President of the United States of America to intrust to his worthy Secretary of State the mission of frank and loyal friendship which confers upon us, in addition to the honor of having him among us, the truly singular pleasure and satisfaction derived from the fact that one of the most eminent citizens of the New World bears to Guatemala a message of fraternity and good will from the American people.
The relations of intimate sympathy and mutual attraction which have always been carefully cultivated by both peoples and Governments tend each day to produce most flattering results through a reciprocal understanding in official matters, through the better acquaintance of their respective citizens with each other, and through the development of commerce, which not only consists in an interchange of products of the soil and industry but which also disseminates ideas of civilization and progress.
I value and take pleasure in the presence of his excellency Mr. Knox in this country to the fullest extent and he can not do otherwise than inspire my utmost appreciation of it. It constitutes a pledge of greater intimacy—which has always been my prayer, and I am happy to see it realized—between Guatemala and the United States, as the immediate result of geographic situation, of historical conditions, and of hopes for the future, which, combined, constitute a collection of facts and principles which controls the evolution of the twenty-one sister republics of the Western Hemisphere.
While experiencing the extreme pleasure of the moment, I am especially pleased to perform the grateful duty of expressing my sincere thanks to His Excellency Mr. Knox for his delicate courtesy in that he is accompanied by persons dearest to the sentiment of a highly cultured gentleman; and may I be permitted to render the homage of my respectful esteem to the distinguished Mrs. Knox, who, together with her estimable children, honors us by participation in the demonstrations which Guatemala is so happy to offer to the great Republic through its eminent representative.
It gives me honor and pleasure to drink to the ever-increasing prosperity of the United States of America, to the personal felicity of His Excellency President Taft, and to that of his eminent Secretary of State and Mrs. Knox.
Reply of Mr. Knox.
Mr. President, Ladies, and Gentlemen: Permit me, in my own behalf and in the name of my countrymen, to thank you for the cordial welcome and bountiful hospitality you have extended to me and to my family.
[Page 520]Beginning for the fourth time the journey from ocean to ocean in Central America, it is with a feeling of regret that I realize that the brevity of the time at my disposal does not permit me to travel more extensively through these countries, to enjoy the pleasures of the wonderful scenery which so beautifully reflects the magic touch of the lavish hand of nature, and to gain the educational advantages which observation and friendly communication with the people so abundantly afford.
Guatemala, in its position of close proximity to the United States, where there is ever ready an eager market for its products, and with its dense population, occupies, indeed, an enviable position among the Central American nations. This position will be rendered increasingly desirable as time goes on and the development of your country’s enormous possibilities is accomplished. And, Mr. President, I may here remark, without, I am sure, indulging any view not equally shared by yourself, that the continuous development and permanent advancement of the Republic depend on its stable economic conditions as well as upon its domestic content and consequent repose. The unvarying friendship of the Government of the United States for republican institutions in this hemisphere and its desire to see them conserved free from interference are too well known and understood to need words of reassurance from me. From the very inception of, and even before the independence of, the Latin-American nations the attitude of the American Government, which later was unmistakably announced by President Monroe, was well known and it continues undiminished to the present day.
In Central America the United States has a special interest not only because of the proximity of the five republics to the great commercial highway now nearing completion in Panama, but also because of its moral obligations under the Washington conventions. The maintenance of peace and stable conditions in these republics is a matter of first importance to my Government. The faithful observance of these conventions will, in the opinion of my Government, go far toward the elimination of the turmoil that has hitherto shaken the very foundations of some of the less fortunate and less tranquil countries.
It is the sincere and candid desire of the United States to maintain and advance to an even higher degree frank and cordial relations with all the republics in this hemisphere, and to that end the President directed my present mission that, by personal contact, I might become better acquainted with the men who direct the destinies of these states, in order thereby to promote better understanding and mutually advantageous relations. That the friendship of my Government toward these states is frank and sincere needs no demonstration other than a consideration of the record of the past, and no words from me can half so eloquently deal with the situation or manifest the true attitude of my Government as can its acts toward its sister republics. The United States, unfortunately, has many times been misrepresented in the past by those unscrupulous persons who, through an endeavor to promote their own gain, falsely represent the sentiments of the American people with regard to this or that nation of Central America.
It is a matter for rejoicing to everyone having faith in the great destinies of this continent to observe that in this Republic a large stretch of steel way which will at some time, in the not far distant future, connect the capitals of all the sister states of this continent with each other has been completed. The completion of the Central American link will be the first step in the grand project of the three Americas’ trunk line from New York to Buenos Aires. With the proximate inauguration of the Guatemalan section of this system there will be through railway connection from New York to Guatemala City.
The effect of a through trunk line of railroad on the countries of Central America would be to sow the prolific seed of communication in rich districts and the consequent development of mutual commerce and the advantageous exploitation of boundless native resources. To this great central artery the transverse lines from the Atlantic to the Pacific, acting as feeders, would contribute to swell the international traffic.
In conclusion, Mr. President, allow me to indulge the hope that the relations between our respective countries may become increasingly cordial and close, to the mutual benefit of both, and for your warm welcome and your cordial and graceful hospitality and entertainment to sincerely thank you.