611.3231/991: Telegram
The Ambassador in Brazil (Gibson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:50 p.m.]
196. Since the adoption of the constitution last year a situation has arisen which creates definite practicable difficulties for ratification of our trade agreement alluded to in my 195. From a brief examination of the files fear significance of this situation may have escaped the Department’s attention.
The so-called class deputies referred to in the Embassy’s despatches 4098 of May 23 and 4127 of June 19, 1933,13 represent private interests such as manufacturers, merchants, etc. They are for all practical purposes lobbyists who at the same time have the right to vote, they are not responsible to the electorate; when it suits their convenience they support the Government but in matters involving their own interests they join the opposition and indulge in lobbying among those who normally vote for the Government. Indeed it would appear that the [Page 310] Brazilian Government itself did not anticipate the powerful opposition which has arisen from this source. We are confronted with the same extraordinary situation as if lobbyists representing special interests in the United States were allowed to sit and vote in the Senate in opposition to treaties submitted for ratification.
There [The?] class deputies, especially those representing São Paulo industries, appear to have been extremely active within the Chamber in undermining the agreement and although my first impression may be unduly pessimistic I believe that unless the Government takes immediate and energetic measures to counteract this influence, we shall be confronted with a definite possibility of non-ratification.
I shall, of course, press for such action by the Brazilian Government.
- Neither printed.↩