Office of the Historian

814.6463Em7/12: Telegram

The Chargé in Guatemala (Thurston) to the Acting Secretary of State

Guatemala, May 24, 1919, 6 p.m.
[Received May 26, 4.40 a.m.]

Mr. Catlin20 informs me Guatemalan Government declines sell Empresa Electrica21 but is agreeable to leasing it to his company for 10 years at $30,000.00 annual rental. Mr. Catlin states he has submitted [Page 294] to the President a lease contract along these lines which gives his company full protection and preferential rights to outright purchase of plant should it be sold.

He states that Guatemalan officials tell him they cannot sell until outcome of Paris conference is known as they do not desire to place themselves in a position where Germany may demand restitution of seized German properties.

Thurston
  1. Henry W. Catlin, of the Electrical Bond & Share Co., New York.↩
  2. See also telegram of March 29, 6 p.m., from the Chargé in Guatemala, p. 272.↩