632.6231/161: Telegram
The Chargé in Brazil (Scotten) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:35 p.m.]
54. In a conversation this afternoon with the Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs he informed me that the reaction both of himself and the President to the aide-mémoire outlined in the Department’s instruction 691 [683], May 12 and which I left with him on May 22 was extremely favorable. He added that a committee had been set up under his direction to study the whole question and that he had also left a copy with the Minister of Finance but he was not in a position to report the latter’s reaction to it yet. He showed me telegrams from the Brazilian Embassy in Berlin indicating that Germany is worried about the Brazilian situation and is bringing pressure to bear and offering inducements such as increased purchases of tobacco from Rio Grande do Sul in order to bring the Brazilians into line. Although the attitude of the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs was encouraging he did not comment upon any of the specific recommendations embodied in the aide-mémoire and I think it entirely premature to jump to the conclusion that this favorable attitude will be translated into action along the lines we desire. In fact in a conversation yesterday between the Commercial Attaché and the Chief of the Commercial Section of the Foreign Office the latter who had been studying the aide-mémoire advanced certain suggestions which are not yet it is true very concrete but which would entirely fail to meet our views. He also stated that he anticipated considerable opposition from the Minister of Finance and the Exchange Director of the Bank of Brazil to any change in the existing Brazilian-German arrangement. I feel it should be emphasized that the two officials last mentioned have more influence than the Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs.