File No. 837.156/230
Minister Gonzales to the Secretary of State
Habana, May 27, 1916, noon.
In the matter of Ports Company. Last Wednesday I called upon President with British Minister regarding Ports Company matter. He said that committee would report findings that afternoon. Saw him again yesterday; he said that committee had not yet reported but would do so in a day or two; that two members were in accord and that Ferrara’s report would be incorporated as minority report and that both would be published in Official Gazette. He said that he had not seen majority report but understood it held action of Congress necessary to settlement. I am convinced President has no intention of accepting responsibility in the matter before November elections and is evading the issue. I feel also that publication of Committee report would make it more difficult to come to a settlement and might precipitate publication of Ports Company’s charge of venality of Congress.
Have come to believe that Congress has been kept in ignorance of Department’s active desire for settlement and that if the President summoned the members of the lower House before him and told them if they did not open the way for settlement as did the Senate the United States would indorse or validate a plan for settlement over their heads, they would cease to demand money for votes.
If the Department cares for my presence at Washington I shall be in Columbia, South Carolina, on Tuesday and Wednesday.