611.3731/2134

The Ambassador in Cuba ( Wright ) to the Secretary of State

No. 2351

Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a self-explanatory memorandum of my conversations with the Secretary of State on the 28th and 29th instant in connection with the delivery to him of my Note No. 250, concerning the possible suspension of the negotiations looking toward a supplementary trade agreement.

Respectfully yours,

J. Butler Wright
[Enclosure]

Memorandum by the Ambassador in Cuba (Wright)

I delivered yesterday to the Secretary of State at 12 o’clock our Note No. 250, which is textually identical with the draft enclosed in the Department’s instruction No. 1091 of August 25, 1939. As Ambassador Martínez Fraga was with the Secretary of State at that time, I deemed it wiser to leave these gentlemen to a discussion of the Note in question rather than to attempt to discuss it with them at that time. It was understood that we would have a further conversation at 11 o’clock this morning.

At 11 o’clock this morning I called at the Cuban Department of State and found that Ambassador Martínez Fraga was detained elsewhere. The Secretary said that he was compelled to observe that although Cuba would have fulfilled a part of her undertaking with us, if and when the legislation for the “Obligaciones” were passed, there was no indication that the Government of the United States was bound to fulfill her portion of the agreement: deeming it wiser to overlook the intimation of lack of good faith on our part contained [Page 547] in his remark, I stated that—as had been set forth in the Note which I delivered to him yesterday—there had been no question of any written commitment or agreement on our part, save the assurance which I trusted that he and his Government had always accepted that we would immediately undertake the examination of the public works project and the extension of the other means of financial support and advice. This was, however, predicated upon the fulfillment of the conditions enumerated in my Note of July 20.

The Secretary said—as Batista has intimated to me many times before—that he would have to have something to exhibit to the people of Cuba in return for the passage of the “Obligaciones”. He then handed me the attached draft of a proposed statement to the press50 intended for publication should the “Obligaciones” be passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President, and requested an expression of my opinion thereon. After reading it hurriedly, I informed him that there was no possibility that my Government would acquiesce in the statement therein concerning any agreement to contribute toward the Stabilization Fund, and I added that the position of my Government had been made additionally clear in the telegram51 which Mr. Welles had sent to Ambassador Martínez Fraga through me, and which I had also allowed the Secretary to read: I therefore suggested that he definitively exclude from the draft those words which referred to such an alleged agreement.

With regard to the allusion to the $50,000,000 credit, I said that I thought the time had come for me to inquire where and at what time that figure had arisen: the Secretary made the astounding reply that he really did not know, but that he had understood that such was the extent of the credits intended. I said—as emphatically as I could—that there was no ground whatsoever for any such figure or, for that matter, of any specified figures; that we had ignored its continued appearance in the press of Cuba because it hardly seemed worthwhile to deny it; but that I could state categorically that there was no ground for the mention of such sum—no matter what was the origin of the rumor. The Secretary thereupon suggested that the figure be struck from the draft: I said that would be the best method of at last putting an end to such a rumor.

I then said that I would have to submit the proposed draft to my Government which I undertook to do by telephone—stating that I hoped to inform him tomorrow of such instructions as I might receive.

I thereupon called Mr. Briggs52 by telephone and acquainted him in the sense of the foregoing. He called me at 4 o’clock in order to communicate to me a corrected draft to which the Government of the United States would have no objection, provided that the Public [Page 548] Works Bill were passed by both Houses of Congress and signed by the President.

He reminded me that there were other conditions specified in our Note of July 20th which remain to be complied with. I told Mr. Briggs that I was continually aware of that fact and was convinced that if and when the Bill were passed, this Government would immediately request and expect a gesture upon our part. I said that the extension of the Export-Import Bank credits had been originally dependent upon the passage of the Public Works Bill, but that the situation had become further aggravated by recent legislation to a point where these additional matters had been specified in my Note of July 20th. I told him, however, that the Revaluation Bill now appeared to be taking second place, that I believed that continued representations which had been made by all interested parties were having some effect, and that there was a good chance that the measure would be greatly modified or made finally to conform to our observations; that the Monetary Law merely awaited the inclusion of the Regulations in an amended law in order to comply without representations in the matter—in addition to the elimination of the retroactive feature which had been advocated by the interested banks; that the Tax Bill—although not forming a part of the situation of which we had complained—constituted a serious menace to American interests but was understood to have already undergone the deletion of a large number of its objectionable features.

In other words, these three measures might fall, largely of their own weight: in view whereof I ventured to recommend that if and when the Obligations were definitively out of the way, we might proceed to the next step, which would be the designation of an engineer of the Export-Import Bank who would immediately come to Cuba to examine the possibilities for the extension of credits for productive public works. I said that such elasticity of interpretation might save us the embarrassment of reiterated accusations of lack of good faith and that I believed that such an undertaking would not necessarily commit us to definite action, unless or until the other requirements had been fulfilled by Cuba.

Mr. Briggs stated that the suggestion was worthy of consideration and that it would be immediately taken under advisement.

J. B[utler] W[right]
  1. Not printed.
  2. Telegram No. 96, August 7, p. 540.
  3. Ellis O. Briggs, Assistant Chief, Division of the American Republics.