724.3415/752: Telegram
The Ambassador in Argentina (Bliss) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:57 p.m.]
106. Your 101 of September 30, 6 p.m. Yesterday afternoon I presented to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the text of the note to Bolivia and Paraguay and read to him that part of your telegram intended for his information. He was not disposed to make any comment, undoubtedly desiring to consult with the President; but today I handed him at his request a memorandum of what I said to him yesterday. He then said that when the good offices of President Irigoyen had been rejected last autumn by Bolivia84 the President considered he had done everything in his power to bring about an agreement between Paraguay and Bolivia and that he did not feel disposed to make further advances. The President’s reason, he stated, for not accepting the invitation to participate in the Commission of Inquiry at Washington was to avoid being placed in the position of seeking to accomplish by circuitous means what he had failed to do by direct offer. The Minister added that the suggestion contained in the American Government’s note to Bolivia and Paraguay was most laudable and intimated that the Argentine Government for the reasons stated above could take no part in the movement although it looks with favor on any effort or action taken to prevent hostilities between the two countries.
[Paraphrase.] Both the Bolivian Minister, with whom I have talked repeatedly on this subject, and his Paraguayan colleague have indicated that the President has shown indifference with respect to the Washington Conference although lately he congratulated the Bolivian Minister on the satisfactory work of the Conciliation Commission. The Bolivian Minister has stressed to me the opinion that the Conciliation Commission should continue its good offices. [End paraphrase.]
- See telegram No. 93, December 10, 1928, from the Ambassador in Argentina, Foreign Relations, 1928, vol. i, p. 684.↩