837.00/2840
The Chargé in Cuba (Reed) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 29.]
Sir: I have the honor to transcribe below, as of possible interest to the Department, the texts in English translation of Associated Press and United Press despatches published here, purporting to give the substance of remarks by Mr. Cotton with regard to the recent statement on the Cuban situation made by Senator David I. Walsh of Massachusetts.
Washington, September 22 (A. P.).—The Acting Secretary of State, Joseph P. Cotton, to-day announced, in connection with the predictions made by the democratic senator Walsh regarding possible disorders in Cuba in the near future, that the reports received in the Department contain nothing which justifies the alarm which the senator is trying to disseminate regarding present conditions in Cuba.
It is believed in certain quarters that in speaking of such reports, Mr. Cotton referred to the conversations which the United States Ambassador in Cuba, Mr. Harry F. Guggenheim, had recently with Secretary Stimson and with Cotton, himself, last week.
The Acting Secretary of State added that Ambassador Guggenheim shares the opinion of the officials of the Washington Government that conditions in Cuba would in no way warrant any action on the part of that Government.
Washington, September 22 (U. P.).—The reports reaching the Department of State regarding the situation in Cuba are at variance with those in possession of the democratic senator Walsh of Massachusetts, according to a statement made to-day by Acting Secretary of State Cotton.
In a statement issued yesterday Senator Walsh declared that serious disorders are brewing in the Republic of Cuba and may have disastrous consequences unless the United States intervenes with its aid to prevent them. Commenting on this, Cotton said that the reports [Page 660] received from Habana indicate that the situation in Cuba is tranquil and that there is no indication that there is any possibility of political or other disturbances.
Secretary Cotton further declared that the reports received by the Department of State concerning Cuba are exceptionally good (sic) and that the Department’s information does not indicate that there exists in the Island any alarming situation, as Senator Walsh’s statement seems to indicate.
The Secretary added that he saw nothing which might require action by the United States in Cuba at the present time. He explained that Harry F. Guggenheim, United States Ambassador in Cuba had called at the Department of State last week and expressed an opinion regarding the Cuban situation entirely different from that described by Senator Walsh.
The above statements were, of course, welcomed with unconcealed jubilation by the friends of the Machado Administration and with corresponding chagrin by its opponents.
Respectfully yours,