714.1515/370c: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Guatemala ( Geissler )
6. The Department of State, as mediator in the boundary dispute between Guatemala and Honduras, has suggested to both Governments that the present would be a propitious time to reach a final solution of the long-standing controversy between the two Governments. As the result of an intimation from the Delegations48 of the two Governments that the Governments of Guatemala and Honduras would be disposed to submit the matter to arbitration and that in such event the President of the United States would be the only arbiter upon whom both Governments could agree, it was suggested that the two Delegations obtain positive instructions from their Governments as to whether both Governments would agree to submit the boundary dispute to arbitration by the President of the United States. The Government of Honduras has already replied that it was willing to submit the controversy to the arbitration of the President. The Minister of Guatemala has not yet received final instructions.
You are instructed to obtain an interview with the President at the earliest opportunity and advise him of the decision reached by the Government of Honduras and to express the hope of this Government that a like decision will be reached by the Government of Guatemala. You may state that a most excellent impression would be created if announcement could be made in the closing plenary session of the Central American Conference that the Governments of Guatemala and Honduras had determined to submit this dispute of many years’ standing to arbitration in the manner referred to.
- To the Conference on Central American Affairs, Washington, Dec. 4, 1922–Feb. 7, 1923.↩