File No. 861.48/657b
The Secretary of State to the Consul at Vladivostok (Caldwell)
For Morris from McCormick:1
The President has designated Baruch,2 Hurley,3 and me as an informal committee to take charge for the present through our respective organizations of the purchase, shipment, and distribution of supplies, including Red Cross supplies, for the Czecho-Slovak forces and possibly limited amounts of other supplies required by the communities in the neighborhood of which Czecho-Slovaks are operating, and numerous applications for the export of which are on file with the War Trade Board.
I will appreciate your giving me by cable a full expression of your views concerning this general situation and such information as may be available to you and not transmitted in another way which would assist us in determining the character and amount of supplies which should be purchased, the priority of shipment which should be accorded them and the method of consignment and distribution in Siberia. The War Trade Board had already planned to send to Vladivostok forthwith one or more representatives and it is possible that they on their arrival could be helpful in assisting in distribution and control, particularly of any commodities which would be offered for public sale.