File No. 763.72112/1124
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9 p.m.]
2124. Again I have taken up with Sir Edward Grey the whole series of delays and provocations about cargoes. This in addition to the daily representations made to the Foreign Office about single cases. I reminded him of the necessity to clear up the docket of accumulated cases. I informed him emphatically of the irritation in the United States. I expressed my opinion that our Government had shown great patience. I cited cases of long delay and of the repeated failure of his Government to give me satisfactory or prompt answers to inquiries.
He practically, though not openly, confessed the reasonableness of my contention and showed his own disposition to meet our wishes. The trouble is with the other departments of the Government, and I intimated that they must be more prompt and frank or I feared regrettable controversies. As a result of this conversation, I am preparing for him a chronological list of cases of long delay about which we have made repeated requests without satisfactory results.
The recent improvement in giving fuller and prompter answers together with Sir Edward Grey’s own sympathetic attitude gives me hope of better results.