File No. 837.51/270
The Secretary of State to the Cuban Minister ( De Céspedes)
Sir: With reference to the conversation which I had, on August 11 last, with you and with Dr. Guillermo Patterson, Subsecretary of State of Cuba, and Colonel Manuel Despaigne, Collector of Customs of the Port of Habana, who had been sent by the Government of Cuba to the United States for the purpose of submitting to the Government of the United States data relating to the law passed by the Cuban Congress on July 31, 1917, providing for the issue of not to exceed $30,000,000 in gold bonds, bearing interest not to exceed 6 per centum per annum and creating certain taxes for the payment of the interest and principal of the bonds authorized, I have the honor to inform you that the above-mentioned data subsequently submitted to the Department of State, have been the subject of careful consideration by this Government. As the study of this evidence, which has been transmitted to this Department, would appear to indicate the ability of the Government of Cuba to meet the interest on the proposed bond issue from its “ordinary revenues,” as provided for by the treaty between Cuba and the United States of 1903, provided the current expenditures of the Government of Cuba are not increased beyond the amount stipulated in the budget for the year 1917–18, I have the honor to inform you that the Government of the United States sees no objection to the bond issue being made as desired.
In reply to your note of August 15 last, enclosing a copy of a memorandum which was presented by you to the Secretary of the Treasury, in regard to the financial aid the Government of Cuba had instructed you to ask of the Government of the United States, to meet the extraordinary expenses caused to Cuba by the state of war existing between the Republic and the Imperial German Government, and in which you set forth the desire of your Government to effect a loan of $15,000,000 from the Government of the United States to cover expenditures for the military purposes of your Government, I wish to acquaint you with the fact that the Secretary of the Treasury has advised me that he is prepared to proceed with this matter in the immediate future.
Accept [etc.]