File No. 814.032/2.
[Untitled]
Note.—The message of President Manuel Estrada C. was read to the National Legislative Assembly March 1, 1913, and transmitted to the Secretary of State March 8, 1913 by the American Chargé d’Affaires, Mr. Wilson. The following are the only passages referring to the United States:
[Translation.]
Our relations with the great Republic of the United States of North America become every day closer, not only on account of the facilities offered by the maritime and railway communications, but also due to the increase of our commercial relations which are the logical consequence thereof, and to the interest which the American people feel for a new and industrious country placed but three days journey from their ports. A conclusive proof of this felicitous circumstance and of the friendly relations which unite both peoples and Governments was the visit with which his excellency the Secretary of State, in behalf of His Excellency the President of the United States of America, honored Guatemala in the month of March of last year: a high distinction which the Government and whole country appreciated in all its worth and which it endeavored to return in the most appropriate form. As the Honorable Assembly was holding sessions at that time of the year it also received the distinguished American statesman in its midst, and the Government hastened to respond to the courtesy of His Excellency the President of that friendly nation, by commissioning the Secretary of State in the Department of Foreign Affairs personally to make known to the Government of Washington the gratitude of the nation and of the administration that governs it.
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And finally, the labor which has been undertaken by the Department of Finance and Public Credit for the financial reorganization of the country, is about to receive a conclusive resolution, and I hope, if such an event be realized during the present session of the Honorable Assembly, that I have accomplished one of my most earnest aspirations: to fulfill the only promise left to be discharged of those which I made to the nation when I entered its service which I have not yet been able to perform, due to causes stronger than my constant and sincere wish, but which today is near such a solution as is better suited to the sacred interests of the nation.