837.00/2093: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Cuba (Cable)
121. For General Crowder.
The Department desires you to express to President Zayas the deep satisfaction caused this Government by learning of the program of administration which the President has informed you it is his intention to carry out, as stated in your April 28, 8 p.m. This Government believes that the administration of Dr. Zayas will set a high standard of efficiency and integrity if the measures which Dr. Zayas has declared it is his purpose to enforce are successfully carried out. It is the opinion of this Government that only through the enactment of such a program of drastic economy and honest administration can the Government of Cuba be placed on a sound basis and prosperity be restored to Cuba. The fact that the President construes the Treaty of 1903 in the same sense as does this Government lends every assurance that satisfactory co-operation between the two Governments is possible at this time when the Cuban Government is forced to contend with so many problems of the gravest import.
[Page 696]In view of the fact that both Governments believe such co-operation to be essential, it is likewise highly satisfactory to the Department to learn, through the published letter of Dr. Zayas dated May 12, 1921,27 of the high regard in which your services as the representative of the President of the United States are held by the President of Cuba and that Dr. Zayas will not vacillate in utilizing your services in resolving the difficult problems with which the Government of Cuba is confronted. It is the intention of this Government that you advise the Cuban Government, in particular, as to the solutions which may be found for the present disturbing financial conditions which obtain in the Republic and report to this Government upon all phases of the financial crisis. Since the financial rehabilitation of Cuba, in the opinion of the Department, affects very directly the stability of the Government in Cuba, which, it is the obligation of the United States, under the Treaty of 1903, to maintain, President Zayas will doubtless appreciate the reasons for the special interest which this phase of the situation in Cuba causes this Government. For the same reason, the Constitutional amendments and the legislation thereunder, now under consideration by the Cuban Congress, are a source of peculiar concern to the Government of the United States. In conclusion, express to Dr. Zayas the confidence of the Department that his patriotic and unselfish efforts to promote the welfare of the Cuban people and to enforce a system of honesty and economy in the Cuban Government will meet with success and assure him that those efforts are being closely followed by this Government.
- Enclosed with despatch no. 914, May 13; not printed.↩