816.51/100

The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Jusserand)

Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge Your Excellency’s note of October 11,3 in which you advise me that your Government has received information that the Government of Salvador has obtained a loan of $250,000 from the International Railways of Central America, repayable in two or three months from the proceeds of the customs receipts. You further advert to the fact that the French firm of Léon Dreyfus made an advance of $780,000 to the Government of Salvador in 1919, which advance is guaranteed by the product of the coffee export tax. You refer to the fact that the revenue thus pledged cannot serve as security for another loan to Salvador.

While the Department of State is not informed as to the exact provisions of the agreement under which the International Railways of Central America advanced the sum of $250,000 to the Government of Salvador, it is presumed that the prior liens imposed upon the customs revenue by former loan agreements have been recognized and respected by the new agreement to which you refer. With reference to the larger loan which Salvador is reported to be seeking, it is understood that one of the objects of this larger loan will be the cancellation of the present internal debt, including the debt owed to the firm of Leon Dreyfus.

Accept [etc.]

Charles E. Hughes
  1. Not printed.