File No. 855.48/722a
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page)1
7226. On account of the extreme gravity of the present military situation and the necessity for utilizing all available tonnage for transportation of American troops and supplies to France, the question is presented to this Government whether 60,000 tons of shipping should be allocated by this Government to the Belgian Relief in addition to their present tonnage, in order that the Belgian Relief [Page 476] may deliver a total minimum of 90,000 tons of foodstuffs per month to Belgium and northern France, or whether this 60,000 tons of shipping should be devoted to military purposes.
The Belgian Relief Commission has at the present time at its disposal tonnage sufficient to transport to the population of Belgium and northern France an average of under 60,000 tons of food per month. The amount of food which the Commission has always considered was the minimum on which this population could be maintained in reasonable health is about 120,000 tons per month. On account of this stringency the Commission have felt recently that with the approaching spring the shipments might be reduced temporarily to 90,000 tons of food per month without causing any disaster. In order to transport 90,000 tons of food per month this additional 60,000 tons of shipping must now be allocated to the Belgian Relief.
The Government of the United States, having in mind the important humanitarian and political aspects of this work and the deep interest taken therein by the Government to which you are accredited, desires you to ascertain from that Government its views on the particular question whether the 60,000 tons of shipping should be allocated to the Belgian Relief or devoted to military purposes.
Repeat to Paris, No. 3508, and Havre, No. 291.
- See last sentence for instructions to repeat to Paris as No. 3508 and Havre as No. 291.↩