File No. 422.11G93/995
The Minister of Ecuador respectfully salutes the Chief of the Latin
American Division of the Department of State and has the honor to
submit to him a rough draft of the conference he had with him at 12
a.m. on the 4th instant.
The Minister wishes to have an authorized and accurate record of that
conference for transmission to the Government of Ecuador and takes
the liberty of asking Mr. Stabler to be so good as to make
corrections wherever needed in the enclosed rough draft, a favor
which will be duly appreciated.
[Enclosure—Translation]
Memorandum of an interview between Mr. Stabler
and the Ecuadoran Minister (Elizalde)
Washington
,
June 4, 1918, noon.
Señor Elizalde said he would be thankful for precise information
as to what the Department of State wished, so as to avoid
restrictions on the export of cacao from Ecuador to the United
States.
Mr. Stabler said that what the Department of State desires is the
resumption of the payment of interests to the railway company of
Guayaquil to Quito, through a daily deposit of the 365th part of
the annual amount in accordance with the provisions of the
contract.
Mr. Stabler added that in addition to that daily payment, the
Department of State wishes that 50 per cent of the export duties
on cacao shipped to the United States be applied to the payment
of the interests in arrears, and that to that end, the American
Consul at Guayaquil will be instructed not to certify the
consular invoices until evidence is produced that the said 50
per cent was deposited in the bank to the railway’s order.
Señor Elizalde answered that that proceeding is an imposition and
that it will be attended with the gravest consequences in the
relations between Ecuador and the United States, which relations
the public men of both countries must endeavor to maintain as
cordial as possible. Ecuador, Señor Elizalde went on to say,
could have remained neutral, but preferred to give proof of her
Pan-American solidarity by breaking relations with Germany and
so offering to the United States a special token of friendship.
This situation having been brought about, said he, there is no
reciprocity in that kind of proceeding. “For my part,” added
Señor Elizalde, “I would rather burn all the cacao of Ecuador”
and accept any other condition however painful it might be,
rather than a humiliating imposition.
Señor Elizalde said that he would not transmit that proposition
to his Government, because it would defeat any arrangement from
the beginning, and that in order to cable to his Government, he
asked that all course of action be suspended for a
fortnight.
Mr. Stabler said that the Government of the United States had no
desire whatever to create a strained situation with Ecuador,
much as it had been displeased with the publication of
diplomatic correspondence exchanged between the Chancellery of
Ecuador and the Legation at Quito, which publication might
appear to have been inspired by some unfriendly sentiment.
Señor Elizalde said that it was not to Ecuador’s interest to
foment such sentiments, that the Government of the United States
had just received from the Government of Ecuador good evidence
of friendship in the breaking off of relations with Germany, and
that those notes had been published without any hostile intent,
but quite to the contrary, that the Government of Ecuador makes
a very broad moral distinction between the Government of the
United [Page 411] States and the
Guayaquil & Quito Railway Co., which company is the only
obstacle in the path of good relations between the two
Governments, and that the notes were published simply and solely
because they dealt with the affairs of the said company.
Mr. Stabler said that he would speak to Mr. Lansing about
suspending any course of action for a reasonable time.
Señor Elizalde said that he wished to know exactly how far the
criticism went of the attitude of the Government of Ecuador in
its adhering to a railway contract with a German firm.
Mr. Stabler said that Ecuador having broken relations with
Germany, it was natural to rescind the contract.
Señor Elizalde said that he supposed that the Government of
Ecuador would endeavor to do so, provided the said firm should
not live up to its obligations and that in justice and honor the
contract should be rescinded.
