Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, The Paris Peace Conference, 1919, Volume II

Paris Peace Conf. 840.48/1

The Food Administrator ( Hoover ) to President Wilson

Paris , 16 December, 1918.

Dear Mr. President:

Serbian Relief

In the matter of the relief of populations under the Serbian Government, I enclose herewith a letter from Mr. Norman H. Davis, who is, as you know, the special representative of the Treasury in matters connected with relief, which it is proposed to be despatched to the Secretary of the Treasury, if it meets with your approval, and I also enclose herewith, for your signature and delivery to Mr. Davis, a proposed letter which he has addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury.³³ These arrangements provide Treasury advances for this purpose.

Jugo-Slav & South Austria

In respect to relief of other populations of southern Austria, as I recounted to you last evening, there are certain populations in South, or Old Austria, which as yet are of doubtful national destination whose food situation is extremely pressing and the relief of which we cannot financially see daylight through any normal government advances. Also, there is the expense of the Food Administration’s activities in Europe to cover these relief measures. It is for this purpose that I requested from you an allocation from your fund for the National Security and Defense of $5,000,000 to be paid directly to the Grain Corporation. I am in hopes that we can yet devise relief measures which will transform this fund merely into working capital which will be recoverable, and, in any event, we will take some kind of obligations for it, except for such minor amounts as may be used in administration. I do not, however, wish to guarantee that we can save this entire sum, but the question of human life and the necessity of maintaining military stability is such that I am sure it is an entirely appropriate use of the funds appropriated. I therefore enclose herewith a draft cable for despatch to the Secretary of the Treasury, directing him to pay to the United States Grain Corporation this sum of money from your blanket fund.³⁴

U. S. Army Officers

As to the use of United States Army Officers, I am informing General Pershing that you are in accord with his delegating to my service such officers as he can spare, they to remain for the present in the army service, their status to be cleared up at as early a date as possible after our organization is established.

War Department

In regard to War Department supplies, as you are aware, before I left Washington, Mr. Secretary Baker and myself arranged with your approval to ship a matter of 20 shiploads of foodstuffs to Europe temporarily for account of the Quartermaster General. These ships have begun to arrive at Gibraltar and I have temporarily arranged with the Quartermaster General to forward them to Adriatic ports, to be discharged at those ports for his account and his care. Mr. Secretary Baker has cabled that he approves this arrangement as to the boats arriving pending your arrival in Europe, and that it requires your authorization for him to continue this program. In accordance with our conversations last evening, I have drafted the enclosed cable for the Secretary of War, to be sent by you.³⁵ The effect of this is that the Quartermaster Department carries temporarily the financial load involved in the transit of these foodstuffs from United States to Adriatic ports and holds them in storage at these ports until such time as they are released for relief, and upon their release from the stores at Adriatic ports, they will be paid for by the Grain Corporation in the United States from the funds provided in the previous paragraphs, or from such moneys as we may be able to collect from the sale of these foodstuffs to such positions as the City of Vienna. In any event, there is no real risk in the matter, because in the worst event, we can stop the flow of foodstuffs from the United States to Italy and divert these stocks to the Italian Government, that is, assuming the whole of relief measures were to break down. The great assistance of these matters is that it enables us to carry the relief of southern Europe with much less sum invested than would otherwise be the case.

I am [etc.]

[File copy not signed]

[Enclosure]

The Special Representative of the Treasury in Europe ( Davis ) to President Wilson

Paris , 16 December, 1918.

Dear Mr. President: The Secretary of the Treasury requested me to come to Europe as special representative of the Treasury to take up with Mr. Hoover the various financial questions arising in relation to relief in Europe.

As you are aware, the only method by which the Treasury Department can give financial assistance even for such purposes is by way of the establishment of credits and subsequent advances to Governments at war with the enemy. The regular procedure, of course, is for the Secretary of the Treasury with your approval, to establish such credits and make such advances. Mr. Hoover has reported to me his conversations with you regarding the proposed emergency measures and has also informed me of the financial assistance immediately required in respect to Servia and the larger portion of Jugo-slavia, for which the relief would have to be furnished through advances to the Servian Government. On account of the urgency of the situation, I have drafted a cable to the Secretary of the Treasury, which is enclosed herewith, to be sent if it meets with your approval. May I also ask that you sign the enclosed letter addressed to the Secretary of the Treasury if the plan proposed meets with your approval.

I am [etc.]

[File copy not signed]

33. For text of the letter, see the concluding portion of telegram of Dec. 16, 1918, midnight, from the Special Representative of the Treasury in Europe to the Acting Secretary of State, p. 670.
34. For telegram as sent, see telegram No. 255, Dec. 16, 1918, 11 p.m., p. 670.
35. For telegram as sent, see telegram No. 256, Dec. 16, 1918, 11 p.m., p. 670.