Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1917, Supplement 2, The World War, Volume I

File No. 855.51/7

The Secretary of the Treasury ( McAdoo) to the Secretary of State

Washington, May 16, 1917.

My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of May 8¹ enclosing a copy of a communication from the Belgian Minister at this Capital concerning the desire of his Government to negotiate with the United States for a loan of $90,000,000.

I am giving consideration to the question of advances to the Belgian Government and have written to the Minister that I will be glad to negotiate a loan to his Government of $45,000,000 payable in monthly installments of $7,500,000 each,² and that I will be prepared to close the transactions for the first installment in my office to-day at 4 p.m.

I have also informed the Minister that I will give consideration at a later date to the matter of a further advance to his Government.

Respectfully,

W. G. McAdoo

1. Not printed; for communication from the Belgian Minister, a copy of which was enclosed, see ante, p. 526.
2. According to a telegram forwarded for the Treasury Department Oct. 26, 1917, “This amount it was understood would be expended for purposes of civil relief, and probably through the instrumentality of the Belgian Relief Commission.” Foreign Relations, 1918, Supplement 2, section on Belgian Relief.