File No. 763.72/6042
Mr. Balfour, for the British Special Mission, to the Secretary of State
[Received May 23.]
Dear Mr. Secretary: At the conference the other day the question was raised as to whether the Allies would be permitted to buy in America at what I think you called the patriotic rates which would be charged to the United States Government. You felt there might be some difficulty in carrying out any scheme of this kind unless the purchases of the United States Army and Navy were brought into the same general scheme as those of the European Allies.
The question is one that evidently deserves careful consideration and it should, I venture to say, be considered in connection with the cognate problems of United States purchases from the Allies of such necessary articles as wool, rubber, tin, jute, ferro-manganese, plumbago, and tonnage accommodation on British and other Allied ships. All purchases made by the Allies from Allies, whether in Europe or America, appear at least at first sight to stand on very much the same footing.
Believe me [etc.]