File No. 652.119/1150
The Chargé in Great Britain ( Laughlin) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 18, 10.43 a.m.]
378. War Trade Board [from Sheldon]:
No. 1032. Referring to your 837, Department’s 245, July 16.1 On July 4 Foreign Office sent me as result of my conversations with them a copy of a note addressed to the French Ambassador dated July 4. In this the Foreign Office points out:
- (1)
- That the greater portion of the purchases made by British Government in Spain consist of iron ore, copper, pyrites and lead, that copper and lead are already controlled by inter-Allied arrangements and that the others are not of such vital interest to the other Allies as to the British; British Government therefore are reluctant to change the system which has been gradually perfected for such purchases in Spain and consider it impossible to consent to place these purchases within the scope of the proposed Inter-Allied Purchasing Bureau in Madrid.
- (2)
- Foreign Office points out that the question of ocean transportation could not come within the scope of proposed bureau as it is already in the hands of the Allied Maritime Council.
- (3)
- Subject to above criticisms and on the understanding that the functions of the bureau are purely of an advisory character and limited to purchases in Spain, British Government are prepared to appoint the secretary in charge of commercial matters at British Embassy in Madrid and a technical delegate to represent British Government on the bureau on all questions of purchases in Spain on behalf of the Army or Ministry of Food, excluding commodities mentioned in number 1.
- [4]
- Foreign Office points out that complication and duplication of work would be saved by the establishment of the purchasing bureau at Madrid without setting up a second bureau in Paris. Control over the bureau in Madrid would be adequately secured by connecting with it the embassies of the Allies in Madrid whose secretaries are already in the habit of holding weekly meetings for discussion of matters of general commercial interest to the four Associated Governments.
- (5)
- Foreign Office proposes if desired a preliminary period of three months could be fixed in order that opportunity might be given to revise the arrangements then should they not be satisfactory.
I immediately advised Chadbourne and McFadden and sent them in confidence copies of the Foreign Office note. In my opinion the arrangement as described by the Foreign Office confuses the purchasing agency with the Inter-Allied [Trade] Committee, but I think in practice the arrangement will work satisfactorily for, while the functions of the two last-named bodies are different in some [respects, since] one is composed of buyers and the other of diplomatic representatives, nevertheless in practice the plan will probably adjust this satisfactorily.