Foreign Relations of the United States Diplomatic Papers, 1936, The American Republics, Volume V

638.5131/108: Telegram

The Minister in Haiti (Gordon) to the Secretary of State

Port-au-Prince, March 19, 1936—1 p.m.
[Received 3 p.m.]

15. My 12, March 12, 1 p.m. Foreign Minister has shown me cable from Mayard reporting that yesterday Quai d’Orsay denounced the commercial treaty to take effect April 18.

The Minister said that this was not an unmitigated evil as it would force those Haitian exporters who for one reason or another had hitherto been unwilling to send their coffee elsewhere than to France to recognize the desirability of building up a market in the United States. The President tells me that he is prepared to submit a bill to the Legislature creating a coffee syndicate and assessing the exporters their pro rata shares for the expenses thereof. I think he is really prepared to move Foreign Office swiftly in this direction unless in purchases of the remainder of this year’s crop large American buyers would prefer to use one or more purchasing agents dealing with three or four of the largest Haitian exporters (see letter from de la Rue⁵¹ to me of February 21 to Pixley⁵² of February 25 and from Pixley to de la Rue March 14⁵³).

Gordon

51. Sidney de la Rue, Fiscal Representative of the Republic of Haiti.
52. Rex A. Pixley, Deputy Fiscal Representative of the Republic of Haiti.
53. None of these letters found in Department files.