811.24522/52: Telegram
The Ambassador in Ecuador (Scotten) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 2—12:50 a.m.]
102. My telegram number 59, January 23, 11 a.m. In conversation this afternoon the President36 brought up the Galápagos Agreement. He stated that the Ecuadorean Congress wished an agreement to be signed without delay and inquired regarding its status. I informed him that I had promptly sent the text of the new draft agreement to the Department but that in view of the many changes the counterdraft37 required considerable study. The President admitted there were various changes but said these were really in language and not in substance. I replied that although this appeared to be true in general there had been a definite change in article 2 regarding duration. He stated that in his opinion the revised article did not represent any change of substance, as under the previous draft a new agreement would have to be arrived at between the two Governments if we wished to remain after the war. He added that the revision of this article had been made at the insistence of the Committee for Foreign Relations of Congress and said that he himself preferred that it be accepted in its present form as the previous wording created the impression that we wished to stay indefinitely. I did not discuss the question further but merely told the President that I was awaiting instructions.