There are also transmitted copies of the exchange of Notes preliminary to
the signing of the Accord.
[Enclosure 1]
The American Minister (
Mayer
) to the Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs
(
Léger
)
No. 65
Port-au-Prince
, June 27,
1938.
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge
the receipt of Your Excellency’s Note dated June 14, 1938, which
states that the economic and financial situation of the Haitian
Government has scarcely been modified since January 11, 1938, the
date of Your Excellency’s last communication on this subject, and
that the outlook for the fiscal year 1938–1939 does not permit the
hope that this situation will notably improve. The Haitian
Government, therefore, finds itself obliged to request the American
Government to prolong the provisions of the Accord of January 13,
1938, for a further period, running from October 1, 1938, to
September 30, 1939.
Your Excellency states that the world market for coffee has scarcely
changed, and that the situation in this respect is still the same as
that described in the Note of January 11, 1938. Prices have not [Page 600] been maintained at the
hoped for levels and, consequently, the receipts of the Haitian
Government will attain with difficulty the sum of Gdes. 28,000,000
although Gdes. 28,690,000 had been foreseen.
It is noted that Your Excellency’s Government has most meritoriously
realized the economies to which it engaged itself in its Note of
January 11, 1938, and, with its available funds, will meet its
expenses during the remainder of the present fiscal year. It is also
noted that in these conditions the Haitian Treasury will possess no
appreciable reserve at the beginning of the next fiscal year.
Your Excellency continues by stating that the Office of the Fiscal
Representative estimates receipts during the next fiscal year at
Gdes. 29,189,000, a sum clearly insufficient, you state, to permit
the Government to maintain the services necessary to public order
and economic stability and, at the same time, to assure the full
amortization of the loan of 1922.
In requesting the American Government to prolong the period of the
reduction in amortization granted in the Accord of January 13, 1938,
Your Excellency confirms the determination of the Haitian Government
to continue the execution of all the engagements taken in the Note
of January 11, 1938, and encloses a copy of a letter, dated June 14,
1938, from the Fiscal Representative setting forth his estimates of
receipts during the fiscal year 1938–1939.
In reply, I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that I have been
authorized by my Government to conclude and sign a Supplementary
Executive Agreement extending the Accord of January 13, 1938, for
one year from September 30, 1938, as follows:
“Supplementary Executive
Agreement
The undersigned plenipotentiaries, duly authorized by their
respective governments, have agreed upon the following
supplementary executive agreement:
Article I
On and after October 1, 1938, and until and including
September 30, 1939, all moneys received by or for the
Haitian Government shall be deposited in the National Bank
of the Republic of Haiti to the credit of the Haitian
Government with the exception of the five percentum of
customs revenues foreseen in Article IX of the Accord of
August 7, 1933, and the amounts needed for payments
connected with the execution of the Loan Contracts which
payments during the period mentioned shall consist of the
amounts necessary to pay the interest on all outstanding
bonds issued under the Loan Contracts of October 6, 1922,
and May 26, 1925, and $20,000 on account of the amounts
required to be paid under such Loan Contracts for the
amortization of the bonds, which amounts shall be credited
to the Fiscal Representative.
[Page 601]
Article II
The provisions of the first sentence of Article XI and the
first and last sentences of Article XVI of the Accord of
August 7, 1933, to the extent and only to the extent that
they may be inconsistent with the provisions of Article I of
this Accord, shall be suspended so long as this
Supplementary Executive Agreement remains in effect.
Signed at Port-au-Prince, in duplicate, in the English and
French languages, this . . . . . day of . . . . . . .,
nineteen hundred and thirty eight.”
Referring to the statement in Your Excellency’s Note under
acknowledgment that the Government of Haiti will continue during the
period of the prolongation of the reduction in amortization payments
to carry out all the engagements set forth in the Note of January
11, 1938, and also to the understanding of the Haitian Government in
the last mentioned Note that extraordinary appropriations outside of
the general budget would be restricted to emergencies duly
recognized as such in accord with the Fiscal Representative during
the period of the default, my Government understands that the
specific undertaking mentioned is not designed to prevent
appropriations for the construction of public works aimed at
increasing the economic prosperity of the country, the funds for
which will be obtained from a loan floated by the Haitian Government
for this specific purpose. I shall be pleased to learn whether Your
Excellency’s Government shares this understanding. I shall also be
pleased to learn Your Excellency’s pleasure as to the time and place
for signing the proposed Supplementary Executive Agreement.
Accept [etc.]
[Enclosure 2—Translation]
The Haitian Minister for Foreign Affairs
(
Léger
)
to the American Minister (
Mayer
)
Port-au-Prince
, June 29,
1938.
Mr. Minister: I have the honor to
acknowledge receipt of the letter of the 27th of this June, by which
Your Excellency was good enough to advise me that you had been
authorized by your Government to sign an agreement extending for a
period of one year the arrangement entered into by our two
Governments on January 13, 1938, relative to the amortization
service on the 1922 loan.
Thanking Your Excellency for that communication, I have the honor to
suggest that the agreement in question be signed at 11 a.m. on the
30th of this June, if that date and hour suit Your Excellency.
It is understood between the two Governments, as you have brought out
in your letter, that the engagements assumed by the Haitian
Government in the letter of January 11, 1938, do not place any
obstacle [Page 602] in the way of the
passing of appropriations for the execution of public works intended
to augment the economic prosperity of the country, in case the
Haitian Government should succeed in its efforts to finance such
works.
Please accept [etc.]
