Chapter III

Major the Hon. William Heimké, who was appointed the Minister of the United States of America to Salvador in 1909, is a native of France, having been born in that country in 1847 and naturalized in the United States. He went to America at a very early age, and entered the regular army when he was but fifteen. He served with distinction during the Civil War, being engaged in several important battles. After the war he served as headquarters clerk under Generals Sherman, Pope, Hancock, and Sheridan, and he was also in the Quartermaster's and Commissary Departments. In 1881 he became purchasing agent for the Mexican Central Railroad, and in 1883 was appointed general manager of the Chihuahua and Durango Telephone Company in Mexico. In 1887 he again entered the service of the United States as Vice-Consul at Chihuahua. He was advanced to Consul in 1892, and retired in 1893. In 1897 he became Second Secretary of the United States Legation in Mexico, and was promoted First Secretary of their Legation in Bogotá, Colombia, in 1906. He was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Guatemala on March 10, 1908. Major Heimké is a member of the American Academy of Economic, Social, and Political Science of Philadelphia, and of the International Folk Lore Society of Chicago.

One of the kindest and most hospitable of men, Major Heimké, in conjunction with his charming wife, a lady of the greatest culture and artistic tastes, makes his home one of the most pleasant places for Americans and foreigners alike sojourning in San Salvador. Major and Mrs. Heimké have firmly established themselves in the regard and the esteem of the Salvadoreans; and they are undoubtedly the most popular diplomatic representatives of the United States of America who have occupied the Legation.

The Salvadorean Minister to the United States of America is Señor Federico Mejía, who is one of the most prominent men in his country, having for some time been Minister of Finance and Public Credit. Upon his introduction to his present office on April 6, 1907, he was officially received by President Roosevelt, and upon this occasion Señor Mejía said:

"Mr. President: I have the honour to place in your hands the
autograph letter by which I am accredited as Envoy Extraordinary
and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Government of Salvador, near
the Government of Your Excellency. I present to you at the same
time the letters of recall of my distinguished predecessor, Dr.
Don José Rosa Pacas.

"Nothing could be more pleasing to me than the honour of
conveying to Your Excellency the expression of my Government's
wish to maintain and draw closer, if that were possible,
the friendly relations which happily exist between our two
countries; and in the discharge of the duties of the mission
which is entrusted to me, I shall spare no effort to voice
faithfully the sentiments of the Salvadorean people, trusting
that I shall meet, in so doing, the same cordiality and interest
you have manifested in the cause of the welfare of my country,
and that of the other States of Central America.

"Accept, Sir, the wishes that I make in the name of the
President of Salvador, and in my own, for the prosperity and
further aggrandizement of the great American nation, and for the
health and personal welfare of Your Excellency."

To this friendly and well-expressed address President Roosevelt replied in equally felicitous terms as follows:

"Mr. Minister: I receive with great pleasure the cordial
sentiments of friendship to which you give expression, both for
your Government and for the Salvadorean people. Entertaining
the most sincere wishes for the prosperity and happiness of
your countrymen, and having at heart the continuation and
strengthening of the good relations which have already subsisted
between our two countries, I assure you of my co-operation in
your aim to that end. I have no doubt that, while worthily
representing the Government by which you are accredited, you
will so conduct your mission as to merit and receive the sincere
friendship and high regard of that of the United States. I
am glad, therefore, to greet you as Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary of Salvador to the United States. I beg
that you will convey to the President of Salvador my cordial
appreciation of his message of goodwill to me personally, and
for the prosperity of the United States, and assure him of my
earnest reciprocation of his wishes. For your own good wishes I
thank you; and I trust you will find your residence with us to
be most agreeable."

On December 20, 1907, the Central American Peace Conference, held in Washington, concluded a Convention providing for meetings of Central American Conferences to be convened on January 1 of each year for a period of five years, with the object of agreeing upon the most efficient and proper means of bringing uniformity into the economical and fiscal interests of the Central American States. The Peace Conference designated Tegucigalpa, Honduras, as the place of the first meeting of the Central American Conference, and prescribed that the Conference should choose the place for holding the next Conference, and so on successively until the expiration of the Convention concerning future Central American Conferences.

The first Central American Conference, which met in Honduras on January 1, 1909, selected San Salvador as the place for holding the second Central American Conference, which was underlined for January 1, 1910. For unavoidable reasons the members of the Conference could not meet in San Salvador on the date prescribed, and the President of the Republic, acting in conformity with Article II. of the aforesaid Convention of the Peace Conference, postponed the meeting of the second Central American Conference until February 1 of the same year, which met on that date and concluded its work on the fifth day of the same month.

The results obtained by the Conference were the celebration of six Conventions, all of which were signed on February 5 of last year. The first of these Conventions provides for the establishment in Costa Rica of a pedagogic institute for Central America; the second, for the unification of the Consular service abroad of the five Republics; the third provides for monetary uniformity on a gold basis; the fourth, for Central American commercial reciprocity; the fifth, for the adoption of the metric system of weights and measures; and the sixth defines the functions of each Government toward the Central American bureau in Guatemala.