462.00 R 29/3142: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France (Whitehouse)
397. Your 420 of October 24. You and Logan should lose no opportunity to make it clear that the present European situation is causing great anxiety; that it is deemed most important to adopt at once an adequate financial plan based upon the capacity of Germany to pay.
Both you and Logan may indicate informally but earnestly that now that the French Government has maintained its position and passive resistance has been abandoned, it appears that the time has come for a constructive financial policy. To overcome German resistance to payment of just obligations is one thing; to push matters to a point of disintegration where hope of adequate reparation payments will be destroyed is quite another, and in the long run will [Page 84] prove a futile reliance for French security. Germany’s application to the Reparation Commission which can at once undertake an appropriate survey affords an opportunity to call in an advisory body to inquire into Germany’s capacity to pay and the best methods of obtaining payment.
Inasmuch as the United States is not represented on the Reparation Commission it is not the Department’s intention that Logan make any statement of the foregoing which would be placed upon the commission’s records.
You may show Logan Department’s no. 393, October 24, 2 p.m., and the text of the Department’s communication which the Embassy in Great Britain was instructed to transmit to you by mail.