800.51 W 89/1a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Herrick)17
1. You are instructed to communicate to the Government to which you are accredited the text of the following resolution adopted by the World War Foreign Debt Commission on April 18.
[Here follows text of resolution quoted in letter from the Secretary of the World War Foreign Debt Commission, April 18, printed supra.]
At the same time you will communicate the text of the law of February 9, 1922 creating the above-mentioned Commission, a copy of which was transmitted to you by the Department February 28. You will add the following statement:
“Pursuant to the terms of the foregoing resolution, and under instructions from my Government, I have the honor to inform you that the Commission desires to receive any proposals or representations which the Government of France may wish to make for the settlement or refunding of its obligations under the provisions of the Act.”
2. It may be that the Government to which you are accredited will desire to send financial representatives to Washington for purpose of direct dealing. If so, Department would like to be informed of the personnel of such representation and when likely to arrive. You may make informal inquiries on this point and in your discretion suggest that it would be agreeable to this Government if negotiations were to begin at an early date; also that it is contemplated that representatives of foreign governments may negotiate directly with the Commission.
3. Repeat the foregoing mutatis mutandis to Brussels, Prague, Helsingfors, London, Budapest, Rome, Warsaw, Bucharest and Belgrade.18
- See last paragraph for instructions to repeat to certain, other countries.↩
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For representations to Esthonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, see instruction no. 271, Aug. 8, 1922, to the Commissioner at Riga, p. 411.
Documents relating to the debt of Austria will be found in the section under Austria entitled, “Measures taken to suspend financial claims against Austria by the United States and other creditor nations,” p. 613. No refunding of the debt of Cuba was required, as interest and installments on the principal were being regularly paid. Repayment of the debt of Liberia was to be made from proceeds of the loan provided for in the Loan Plan of 1921, which, however, failed in 1922 to receive the sanction of the American Congress (see under Liberia, vol. ii, pp. 606 ff). No negotiations were entered into during 1922 with Armenia, Greece, or Russia, as the Governments of these countries were not recognized by the United States. The debt of Nicaragua was regarded as already in funded form.
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