Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1922, Volume I

837.51/786: Telegram

The Representative on Special Mission in Cuba (Crowder) to the Secretary of State

Habana, June 9, 1922—11 a.m.
[Received 3:23 p.m.]

31. Conference[s] referred to on pages 6 and 7 of enclosure to my despatch of June 2nd³⁸ commenced Wednesday, June 7th, and were concluded yesterday, June 8th, occupying a little more than five hours. The results of the conference, not obtained without great difficulty, may be summarized as follows:

• First, acceptance of the resignation of all Cabinet officers and reformation of the Cabinet on the basis of appointments of new men as secretaries of the Departments of the Treasury, Public Works, and Government, selected for the purpose of waging a relentless war on the graft, corruption and immorality especially prevailing in these three Departments; agreement that these new men would be selected only after conference with me as to their availability to carry out these important reforms; … The reformation of the Cabinet along these lines to be made effective possibly within six days and certainly within the remaining days of the present fiscal year.
• Second, he agreed to put into effect by Executive decree the reforms in the national lottery which the President can make without the aid of Congress as outlined in subdivision B, page 23 of the memorandum number 10;³⁹ that the preparation of this decree should begin at once and that I should participate in the work; that as the loss [of] colecturias by Congressmen would be certain to precipitate a congressional crisis, we agreed that the promulgation of this decree should be deferred until Congress had voted upon budget reduction and tax revision, but that the issuing of decree should not be postponed later than the first of July.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I shall cover the incidents of my two conferences with President Zayas in a despatch when I have time to prepare it. It is sufficient to say here that the first attitude of President Zayas was one of extreme reluctance toward discussing the subject matter of memoranda numbers 8 and 10 and particularly the application to his Cabinet of the principles governing removal from office outlined in subparagraph 1, page 16 of memorandum number 8. Our first interview closed without definite commitments. At the second interview yesterday 1 found the President with a better appreciation of the gravity of the situation confronting the country and of the necessity for the drastic action to which he finally agreed; …

Crowder

38. Not printed.
39. These reforms were to (1) audit and make public the expenses of the Lottery Bureau; (2) eliminate the acaparadores; (3) make the colecturías no longer sinecures; (4) have the vendedores buy tickets from the colectores at face value and limit the price of their resale under heavy penalties for violation of price set.