File No. 714.1515/18
Minister Ewing to the Secretary of State
Tegucigalpa, February 28, 1917.
Sir: With further reference to this Legation’s cable to the Department of February 19, last, dealing with the threatened interference of the Guatemalan Government with the work of the Cuyamel Fruit Company in northwestern Honduras, I have the honor to report that the excitement has subsided and I believe that there will be no serious encounter for the present.
However, the undefined boundaries between Honduras and Guatemala and between Honduras and Salvador are constant causes of irritation and may at any time seriously threaten the peace of these Republics, and I would most respectfully recommend that steps be taken to secure a permanent settlement of the question. In an informal conversation regarding this interference with the Cuyamel Company, President Bertrand admitted that the mixed commissions appointed to meet upon the boundary were always failures and that [Page 764] the final adjudication of the contention would have to be through the medium of an umpire in the person of a disinterested third party.
I have [etc.]