File No. 861.48/63
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7.30 p. m.]
3865. Your 2945, February 26, and 2926, February 23. The whole subject of Polish relief was presented to Sir Edward Grey by me on behalf of Hoover and of Walcott of the Rockefeller Foundation some time ago, [but he] has not replied.1 The cabinet has not yet reached a decision because of grave complications touching future relief in all areas occupied by German armies on account of the German conduct regarding use and exportation of food in Belgium by the German military authorities with which the British Government are much displeased. The whole question of relief everywhere has been put in grave jeopardy by German conduct. I have for a week had almost daily conferences on the subject with the Foreign Office and with Hoover, and I am leaving nothing undone in an effort to secure a working basis. All this, of course, unofficial but none the less vigorous.
- In the Parliamentary Paper on this subject, Miscellaneous, No.32, 1916 [Cd. 8348], of which a copy was forwarded by the Chargé, October 3, 1916, is printed a letter from Sir Edward Grey to Mr. Hoover, dated February 5, 1916, replying unfavorably to Mr. Hoover’s of December 22, 1915.↩