815.00/2632
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Honduras (Morales)
Sir: The Department has received and read with interest your despatch No. 423, of July 5, 1923,11 discussing the reception in Honduras of the Department’s declaration of policy as embodied in its telegram of June 30.
Your statement that President Lopez Gutiérrez had expressed his approbation of the Department’s views, and that you believe that he will exert himself from now on to bring about a free election, has been noted with especial gratification. It is desired that you should informally make it clear to the President, when an appropriate occasion presents itself, that it is the earnest hope of the Government of the United States that he will be able to maintain the principle of free elections which was so prominent a feature of the program upon which he himself was elected to office, and that he will assure an opportunity for the free expression of the wishes of the voters, not only by giving appropriate instructions to his subordinates, but by satisfying himself that officials holding positions where they may be able to influence the conduct of the elections are men of a type which will create confidence on the part of all parties.
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩