War Trade Board Files: Danish Negotiations, Vol. I
The Danish Minister ( Brun ) to the Chairman of the War Trade Board ( McCormick )
Dear Mr. McCormick : During a conversation on Saturday, January 12, at the War Trade Board, Mr. Munson informed me that the Board had considered the reply of December 25 from the Danish Government regarding a general trade and shipping arrangement,1 and that you would personally on Monday, January 14, invite me to a conference at the War Trade Board and hand me a note stating the results to which the Board had come.
As you will have seen from the reply of the Danish Government, I am now authorized to personally undertake these negotiations also on behalf of the Danish associations of the commercial, industrial, agricultural, and shipping interests of Denmark. I beg to advise you officially of this authorization by my present letter.
I furthermore wish to say that it is from our point of view of the utmost importance for political and economic reasons that the concluding negotiations should be proceeded with at once. You have surely in the press of late seen what the American Minister at Copenhagen, Dr. M. F. Egan, now here with leave of absence, has told this country about the present situation at Copenhagen and the plight to which Denmark has been reduced.
[Page 1299]I can assure you that the picture which Doctor Egan drew was in no way an exaggeration and that it is not too much to say that we are almost reduced to the misery and the poverty of the Middle Ages.
I appeal to you to cooperate with me without delay to put an end to this, which can hardly be called a credit to our generation and which will soon be beyond repair for the future, which we can discern, and do harm to both yours and my country.
Believe me,
Yours sincerely,