File No. 822.5048.
The Acting Secretary of State to the British Amabassador
Washington, July 21, 1913.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s note of July 5, 1913, enclosing a copy of a despatch from the British Chargé d’Affaires at Quito on the subject of labor conditions in the Ecuadorean Province of Oriente, and asking for the views of this Government as to the disposition of the United States to join with your Government in a friendly invitation to that of Ecuador thoroughly to investigate the circumstances, and, should a traffic in slaves between Ecuador and Peru be found to exist, to cooperate with the Peruvian Government in its suppression.
The Department has not received any reports of ill treatment of the indigenes in Ecuador and hesitates to believe that their condition is such as to require assistance from this Government.
A copy of your note has been transmitted to the Legation of Quito with instructions to report on the subject.
I have [etc.]