File No. 851.51/46

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France ( Sharp)

[Telegram]

2126. Secretary of the Treasury requests that you communicate with the Minister of Finance and ascertain what amount of loan or credit in the United States would prove most helpful to the French [Page 520] Government at this time to cover the period of say the next six months. Ascertain, also, in what instalments the loan would likely be required, and also to what extent the credit would be employed in the purchase of supplies in this country. It should not be implied that the United States would condition the loan upon its expenditure in the United States alone. The inquiry is made merely to ascertain if the loan would be used here, because it has a bearing upon the method of financing it. Prompt reply is desirable.

Lansing

[For a statement by the British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Allies’ financial situation and needs, see the memorandum quoted in the telegram from the Ambassador in Great Britain, No. 5949, April 6, ante, page 11.]