File No. 657.119/229
The Minister in Norway ( Schmedeman ) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 10, 12.21 a.m.]
453. Before complying with your instruction No. 202, January 5, I respectfully invite consideration of the following: I deem it inexpedient to publish full text of our proposal in its present form as in view of preceding negotiations such publication in the Norwegian press would appear to be discourteous and might be resented by the Norwegian Government; the proposal in its present form is incomplete in its details and before publication should be on record in its final form, setting forth besides our demands, the specific estimates of what we are prepared to give to Norway in return. In view of the procrastinating policy of the Norwegian Government the final proposal should embody a time limit for its acceptance and be accompanied by a statement that at the expiration of the time limit stipulated it would be published in full in Washington. In support of suggestion made in my telegram No. 445, that in view of the obscurity with which the Norwegian Government surrounds the present negotiations with the United States, it might be advisable to publish communiqué for the enlightenment of the public, I recommend that a preliminary statement be published in American press—which would undoubtedly be repeated in the newspapers here—to the effect that the demands of special agreements are fair and reasonable and based entirely on the principle of compensation and include no arbitrary conditions whatever.
The British Minister informs me that he considers an estimate of 250,000 tons grain inadequate, as it does not provide for fodder; 350,000 tons he thinks would be sufficient. He also feels that it would be advisable to allow the Norwegian Government to send a certain quantity of calcium carbide to Germany provided no Allied materials are used, as the controlling interest in one of the largest factories here is Austrian. I have been reliably informed that Germany has offered Norway 250,000 tons of grain in exchange for pyrites, which is denied by the Foreign Minister. London informed.