File No. 763.72/4004
The Secretary of State to the Minister in China ( Reinsch)
Your cipher telegram of April 23, noon. The Chinese Minister has repeatedly conferred with the Department during two or three weeks past and in answer to his inquiry as to assistance under provisions of the pending bill he was referred to the language of the bill which provides that—
For the purpose of more effectually providing for the national security and defense and prosecuting the war by establishing credits in the United States for foreign governments, the Secretary of the Treasury, with the approval of the President, is hereby authorized, on behalf of the United States, to purchase, at par, from such foreign governments then engaged in war with the enemies of the United [Page 432] States, their obligations hereafter issued, bearing the same rate of interest and containing in their essentials the same terms and conditions as those of the United States issued under authority of this Act.
He was told that if China should be among those then engaged in war with our enemies she might have some reason to expect such financial assistance.