File No. 659.119/421
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10.30 a.m.]
827. War Trade Board [from Sheldon]:
No. 1164. Your 902, Department’s 339, July 22. I have seen the telegram that the Foreign Office propose to send to Lord Reading setting out their views on the Danish negotiations. I understand that the American, British, and French Ministers at Copenhagen have stated that they were not in favor of concluding an agreement without their stating so far as I know the reasons that would seem to justify this action provided the Allied terms as regards exports to Germany could be obtained. I learn that the British consider your estimate of 350,000 tons of shipping that would be obtained if requisitions were resorted to is much too low a figure. Their estimate is about 500,000 tons. The British position is so fully stated in [Page 1337] the telegram to Lord Reading that there seems nothing else useful to add except that it seems the general opinion here that if the negotiations break down, the Danes will be forced under pressure from the Central Powers to lay up their shipping which would necessitate our requisitioning. If, therefore, the Danes will meet our conditions as to limitation of exports to the Central Powers, it would be preferable to come to an agreement even if the amount of tonnage so obtained does not equal the British estimate of the amount which could be requisitioned. The latest advices received at the Foreign Office from Denmark would lead to expectation that the Danes are more desirous of concluding an agreement which probably to some degree is affected by the change in the military situation. Doctor Taylor points out that if rock phosphate be substituted for Norwegian nitrates, their import would not particularly benefit the Danish agriculture until 1920 on the assumption that the Danes have no sulphuric acid available to treat phosphate rock.