839.51/4548: Telegram
The Minister in the Dominican Republic ( Norweb ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:05 p.m.]
40. Your telegram No. 28, November 10, 6 p.m.29 See my air mail despatch No. 60, November 9,29 forwarded last night reporting Foreign Minister’s intention to reopen negotiations for revision of the 1924 convention on basis of preliminary consideration of the floating debt problem and respect for United States responsibility to bondholders. [Page 467] My reply to him was along the same lines as your press statement. An editorial in this morning’s Listin refers to the convention as an “anachronism” and asks if the United States should not evidence its interest in the cancellation of this arrangement. No reference was made to your statement, a summary of which was published here yesterday.
Although the Foreign Minister tells me he was appointed by the President with the sole purpose of negotiating a revision of the 1924 convention, I feel that the primary reason for drafting him to the Foreign Office was the threatening situation with Haiti.30 I also am of the opinion that this sudden cry for revision is an attempt to draw attention from the Dominican-Haitian dispute by evoking a fancied grievance against the United States.