863.48/179: Telegram
The Commissioner at Vienna (Frazier) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received December 31—11:43 p.m.]
403. Referring to my telegram number 384, December 9th, 4 p.m. I am reliably informed that the Austrian Government has obtained the necessary funds for the purchase of 60,000 tons of American grain by the sale of foreign securities still in possession of the Austrian Government and by utilizing credits in Holland from the sale of wood to that country. Although the Reparation Commission authorized pawning or sale of Gobelin tapestries, there seems to be no disposition to raise money in this way. Austrian bankers very uneasy over the attitude of the Reparation Commission toward Austro-Hungarian Bank. They claim that if Austro-Hungarian Bank is prevented from paying its obligations it will result in bankruptcy of that institution as well as of all the other banks in Vienna.