The office copy should be forwarded to the appropriate office of the
Ethiopian Government and the original letter transmitted to the Ras
Tafari in the manner which may be most agreeable to His Imperial
Highness.
[Enclosure]
President Coolidge to Ras Tafari
Makonnen, Prince Regent of Ethiopia
Great and Good Friend: The receipt of Tour
Highness’s two letters of April 30, 1927, has afforded me great
pleasure, and I desire particularly to express the satisfaction
which I feel upon learning of your continued interest in the
reappointment of an American representative at Addis Ababa as well
as of the friendly esteem in which Your Highness is so good as to
hold Mr. James Loder Park, the American Vice Consul at Aden.
As Your Highness is already aware, I was pleased, upon the
recommendation of my Secretary of State, to propose to the last
Congress, prior to its adjournment, the appropriation of the
necessary funds for the salary of a minister plenipotentiary and
envoy extraordinary to Ethiopia. It is, therefore, with sincere
regret that I must inform Your Highness that the Congress failed to
take favorable action on my proposal. This action, I may add,
appears to have been based primarily on the program of strict
economy which characterized the financial policy of the last
Congress, a program which laid particular emphasis on the
curtailment of the administrative expenditures of the
Government.
I am, at the same time, pleased to inform Your Highness that I do not
consider this action of the Congress as in any way indicative of a
desire on its part that I should not proceed in this matter under
the law of the United States providing that within the discretion of
the President any Foreign Service officer may be appointed to act as
commissioner, chargé d’affaires, minister resident, or diplomatic
agent. Consequently, it is my present intention, upon the
reconvening of the Congress next fall, in consultation with my
Secretary of State, to select and to appoint, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, a meritorious officer of the Foreign
Service to act as Minister Resident and Consul General of the United
States near Your Highness’s Government. I am pleased to hope,
therefore, that before another year has passed, we shall see
realized our common
[Page 594]
desire
for the reestablishment of official American representation at Your
Highness’s capital.
I am happy to avail myself of this opportunity to convey anew to Your
Highness the expression of my own good wishes for your personal
welfare and for the prosperity of Ethiopia.
Your Good Friend,
By the President:
Frank B.
Kellogg,
Secretary of
State.
Washington, July 26, 1927.
