File No. 817.51/887
Minister Jefferson to the Secretary of State
Managua, February 1, 1917, 3 p.m.
The Legation yesterday received the following official communication from the Minister for Foreign Affairs with the urgent request that it should be immediately transmitted to the Department:
In conformity with the cablegrams crossed the 26th of this month between the bankers Brown Brothers and Seligman and the Secretary of the Board of Foreign Bondholders and with instructions from the President, I have the honor to communicate the wishes of my Government that from the Canal funds there be moving at once to the Ethelburga the necessary amount to cover the 25 coupons corresponding for the lapse of time from January 1, 1915, to January 1, 1917, inclusive.
Yesterday, during my conference with President Chamorro, we again discussed the matter of appointing a Financial Adviser. He informed me that at an opportune time he would submit the question to the Congress; that he would have to overcome to a certain extent Department’s opposition in Congress to such an appointment and should like first to pass the bill creating a debt commission; that opinion here is entitled to consideration; that as soon as known that he contemplates appointing a Financial Adviser he would meet with many difficulties and he should like to know the general plan of the Department so that he may later present the entire matter to Congress and at the same time include the appointment of the Financial Adviser. He is very desirous that the Department at once authorize to be paid from the Canal money 250,000 dollars for his urgent needs, it being physically impossible to pass at once the bill forming the debt commission though Ham will be authorized to act with the Minister of Finance in the application of this money.