861.00/5295: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Commission to Negotiate Peace
3284. For Polk. Our telegram 3238, September 25, 6 p.m. was sent at the request of the Treasury Department. Inadvertently no comment was made by the State Department. Our telegraphic instruction 3198, September 22, 4 p.m. is not superseded by that of September 25, 6 p.m. Secure best plan you can for the repatriation of the Czechoslovaks. The President has given his approval to the allotment of the necessary tonnage and to the granting of a loan up to $12,000,000. The War Department is in a position to handle the whole movement. The Department believes, however, that the British and French may find that their own ends will be served by supplying the tonnage in part, or even entirely, since the charges for the use of their ships could be considered as their share of the necessary loans. This would make it unnecessary for them to buy American dollars as would be the case should all or more than half of the tonnage used be American.
Department considers that repatriation should be started at once and feels confident that you will be able to obtain the consent of the British and French to share 50 percent of the loans to Czechoslovakia [Page 301] for this cause. The Department feels at the same time that in this case the moral obligation takes priority over commercial and other ends, and that for this reason we should be ready in the last resort to begin the repatriation of the Czechoslovaks alone. Then if the movement stops the responsibility will rest upon France and Great Britain. The President has given his direct approval to the general principle of repatriating the Czechoslovaks in the manner indicated in our September 22, 4 p.m.