The French Minister for Foreign Affairs ( Pichon ) to Colonel E. M. House 44
My Dear Colonel: The French Government has always been in cordial accord with the principles and the propositions mentioned in your letter of December 1st,45 regarding aid (revictualing) to be extended to the countries of Europe. The French Government accepts with equal willingness the proposition of the President that the Government of the United States should take the management of the administration of this aid (revictualing). The delay in making our reply arose solely from the necessity of holding various conferences in regard to the general questions raised by this proposition and for adapting the plan suggested to the following considerations which seem to us essential for the happy execution of the President’s project.
- (1)
- We consider it of vital importance that the aid extended to the European peoples, who have suffered from the war, should be given by the associated governments acting as a body and that the enemy should not consider that divergence of view exists in the realization of a humane purpose as lofty as that which the associated governments, actuated by the same spirit, are pursuing.
- (2)
- While recognizing that a large part of the provisions, which will be necessary and available for the aid in question, must come from the United States, we think nevertheless that in many cases an appeal must be made to the resources of other countries and that, in fact, the balance of resources thus available will, to a certain extent, partake of the nature of a world’s balance.
- (3)
- We consider it very important that the administration of this aid proposed by the President should be co-ordinated with the organizations upon which the Allies have depended, and upon which they still depend for their revictualing. In other words, it will be necessary, in our opinion to consider the revictualing of the world as a problem in itself in order to co-ordinate conveniently the work of the organization charged with the revictualing of needy peoples with that of organizations which control the revictualing of the Allies.
We are moreover convinced that these are questions which will settle themselves if they are discussed frankly and completely by a competent organization as the general plan is gradually put into execution. Experience has shown us that the effective co-ordination of the efforts of the associated governments, as well as the solution of problems which have confronted them, have been reached by a daily contact established through common meetings without the necessity of defining the powers and the exact scope of such organizations or of delimiting problems which it was their duty to solve.
Considering that the Supreme World [War] Council is not in itself a mobile or specialized organization we suggest that a special organization be substituted for it, composed of two representatives of each of the four powers with the necessary powers for treating the aspects of the problems mentioned in your letter of December 1st, as well as those embracing the considerations above mentioned. We are therefore ready to name immediately our two representatives to this organization.
We recognize likewise that there may be urgent cases for aid, which it will be necessary to consider immediately. In accord with the suggestions made in your letter of December 16th,46 we have sent our representative to Berne to co-operate with the representatives of the United States and those of the British and Italian Governments for the aid to be extended to the city of Vienna. We have also given instructions to our administration for revictualing to associate themselves with any enterprise for the aid of Serbia and Jugo-Slavonia.
Accept [etc.]