837.51/652: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Cuba (Cable)
183. For General Crowder.
Your November 27, 6 p.m.
The Department feels that it cannot sanction the proposed temporary loan without more definite assurances that economies will be made in the budget for the current fiscal year. It is understood that the budgetary legislation conferred on President Zayas ample authority to make such reductions without referring them to Congress, and it is expected that General Zayas, acting upon this authority and fulfilling written promises given to you, will reduce the total expenditures for this year to $50,000,000 plus such additional sum as he may demonstrate to your satisfaction to be necessary for the efficient conduct of the Government. The Department feels, therefore, that President Zayas should give you, in writing, a much more definite statement of economies which he himself will put into effect in the immediate future, specifying the amount which can be saved and the specific Departments in which the savings can be effected. The Department is not prepared to admit that the Cuban Government is justified in planning a budget of $64,000,000 and it feels that [Page 768] no proof has yet been produced that expenditures in excess of $50,000,000 are necessary. It desires, therefore, that you should impress upon General Zayas the Department’s expectation that he will comply with the assurances given you in his letter of October 16, and the Department’s desire for definite and detailed information as to the manner in which the budget will be reduced to comply with those assurances.
Department approves of your attitude and feels that President Zayas’s letter is entirely inadequate. It is willing, however, to continue negotiations with a view to obtaining satisfactory assurances of economies, because it feels that the temporary loan would in itself, by reason of the conditions which can be imposed, materially assist in bringing about the economies and financial reforms which are so urgently needed in Cuba.