File No. 654.119/554a
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Page)
1682. For Sheldon [from War Trade Board]:
No. 1309. Please show text of following note to British authorities and explain that it is being sent to the American Ambassador at Rome with instructions to show it to his British and French colleagues but not to present it to the Italian Government until these colleagues have had an opportunity to receive instructions to support it from their respective Governments. Please enquire of British authorities whether they will send such instructions. McFadden is [Page 1649] being cabled to take similar steps with the French authorities.1 Copy of note will be sent to the Italian Ambassador at Washington next Thursday.
My Government has learned with surprise and regret that the Italian Government, without full consultation with the other Allies and the United States, is about to conclude an agreement with the Swiss Government providing for the exportation, among other commodities, of the following: 7,500 pigs; 6,000 quintals eggs; 1,000 quintals poultry; 1,000 quintals fruit and preserved vegetables; 35,000 quintals fresh vegetables; 1,000 quintals chaff of rice; 24,000 tons sulphur; 15,000 bales cotton.
My Government desires to call the attention of the Italian Government to the fact that the independent conclusion of such an agreement by the Italian Government, especially at a time when the War Trade Board of the United States is about to initiate negotiations for a comprehensive rationing arrangement with Switzerland, is entirely inconsistent with the complete cooperation which is so essential to the successful prosecution of the war and is bound to cause much confusion and many misunderstandings between the United States and Italy.
I am also instructed by my Government to point out that should the proposed Italian-Swiss agreement be concluded, Italy would then be exporting to Switzerland commodities similar to those which she is demanding and receiving from the United States. Such a procedure obviously involves the uneconomical use of a substantial amount of tonnage.
The great importance which my Government attaches to this matter prompts me to express the hope that Your Excellency will in the very near future enable me to communicate to my Government the Italian Government’s view respecting this matter. I also venture to hope that the Italian Government will see fit to afford an opportunity to the Allies and to the United States to examine the various provisions of the Italian-Swiss agreement and to consider them particularly in their relation to the rationing arrangement which it is proposed to conclude between the War Trade Board of the United States and the Swiss Government and to the requests for supplies made by the Italian Government to the Government of the United States.
- The telegram on the same date to the Ambassador in France, for McFadden, is numbered 5751. (File No. 654.119/530a.)↩