File No. 861.48/146a
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassadors in Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia
Inform government to which you are accredited that since the United States for many months, at the request of the various belligerent powers, has been acting as intermediary in the negotiations between the belligerents relative to a proposed agreement as to the terms under which relief supplies may be introduced into Poland and distributed therein, and since all the negotiations have so far failed to result in any agreement which could bring about the desired result, although all the countries interested have manifested a willingness to permit relief supplies to be sent to Poland under certain specified conditions, the United States, therefore, in the name and interests of humanity, now appeals to all the belligerent countries [Page 900] to consider whether it is not possible for the powers on each side to make such mutual concessions in the terms proposed by them for the regulation of shipments of relief supplies into Poland as will make it possible for an agreement to be reached under which relief can be given to the suffering inhabitants of Poland. The United States is instructing its Ambassadors to Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia to communicate this message to the government to which they are respectively accredited.