File No. 422.11G93/944
The Minister in Ecuador ( Hartman) to the Secretary of State
Sir: Referring to the Department’s telegram of November 26, 1917, 5 p.m.,2 relating to the failure of the Ecuadoran Government to make deposits for railway bonds, I have the honor to inform the Department that, on November 30, I prepared and delivered in person a note to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, wherein I set out textually that portion of the Department’s telegram directed to be so delivered, and at the same time, in further compliance with such telegraphic instructions, I orally emphasized the gravity with which the Government of the United States views the situation into which Ecuador has allowed the disregard of her obligations to bring the relations of the two Governments. I further informed the Minister that the Government of the United States can not allow the annihilation and destruction of this legitimate and important American enterprise.
To this, the Minister replied that he would bring the matter to the attention of the Minister of the Interior, and that an answer would be forthcoming within two weeks. Thus far, no answer has been received.
In view of the recent action of the Government of Ecuador in severing relations with Germany, and the conditions growing out of the Mueller incident, and the internment of the escaped German officers, I have thought it advisable not to press the Ecuadoran Government for speedy answer, until so instructed by the Department.
I have [etc.]
- Op. cit., p. 746.↩