740.00112 European War 1939/218: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Bullitt)
1176. Your 2316, October 4, 10 p.m. The Secretary of the Treasury informs me that in response to several requests within recent weeks that the Treasury accept gold in Europe the Treasury has replied uniformly that in present circumstances it is following the policy of purchasing gold only upon delivery in New York. He added that the Treasury sincerely regrets that it is unable to deviate from this established practice.
As to the Belgian wolfram, it is impracticable to make special deals for the purchase of raw materials for reserve stocks since the law specifically calls for advertising for bids. An advertisement for tungsten ore was issued by the Procurement Division of the Treasury on September 20, for delivery f. o. b. cars, Columbus, Ohio, the bids to [Page 760] be received within 30 days. While it is presumed that the holders of wolfram stocks in Belgium are Belgian smelters rather than producers or dealers in ore, they may possibly have received copies of this announcement of “Specifications and Proposals for Supplies” and be in a position to file bids. Otherwise the time would probably be too short for them to submit bids even if they were in a position to compete with other suppliers for delivery at Columbus, Ohio.
It would appear therefore that it would be impossible to take any affirmative action on the lines suggested by Mr. Daladier irrespective of the political questions which would also have to be considered.