800.6354/112: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 20—3:39 p.m.]
254. I venture to suggest for your consideration a substitution for the last sentence of the proposed tin note contained in the Department’s instruction 485, February 9, 1939. In spite of the truth of the assertion in the Department’s draft the resultant reaction of the British officials concerned with the tin control scheme would probably be such as to impair the utility of the oral conversations to be undertaken. The point can, however, be made orally. The proposed substitution is as follows:
“In the case of tin the presence of governmental responsibilty in the creation and administration of the international control scheme implies that consumers interests would be more adequately safeguarded than in the case of an unchecked private monopoly. However, the declared price policy being pursued by the Committee does not in the opinion of the United States Government give due regard to these interests.”
In this general connection I venture to point out that the statements contained in the second and third paragraphs of the Department’s draft will by no means pass unnoticed. Therefore, it is assumed that the material which was to be forwarded to the Embassy as a basis for the conference with the appropriate British officials will be specific in regard to the particular phases of the Tin Committee’s administration which should undergo modification.