File No. 855.48/771
The French Ambassador (
Jusserand) to
the Assistant Secretary of State (
Phillips)
Washington,
May 13, 1918.
[Received May 15.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I have just received
from my Government the text of a telegram addressed to the President by
Prime Minister Clemenceau,
concerning the food situation in Belgium, [Page 483] which has become extremely alarming. Immediate
help is needed and an appeal is made to the humanitarian feelings of the
President, his country having already done so much to save Belgium (and
northern France) from starvation.
The text of the telegram is here included and I should be much obliged to
you for causing it to be placed as soon as possible in the hands of the
President.
Believe me [etc.]
[Enclosure—Telegram—Translation]
The French Premier (
Clemenceau) to President Wilson
I received from M. De
Broqueville the following alarming despatch:
I have just addressed to Mr. Lloyd
George the following telegram:1
I have received alarming news concerning the food
situation in the occupied portion of Belgium. The
National Committee predicts a real famine during
this month. The bread ration will be reduced to 180
grammes beginning on the 15th of May. The ration of
starch foods is reduced because of the lack of
stocks and of deliveries; compensation in fat is
insufficient. Resources in native food products do
not exist. The Council of Ministers brought together
by the urgency of the situation addressed a direct
and pressing appeal to the chief of the British
Government in order that immediate measures be taken
to assure the execution of the contract explicitly
undertaken that they should furnish the tonnage and
food products for the famished population. The King
and the Belgian Government decline all
responsibility for the moral and material disaster
with which Belgium is menaced if efficacious
measures are not undertaken without delay. This
responsibility is a duty which falls to the Allied
Governments. I am certain that I am able to count on
your humane sentiments, your political reasoning and
your generous comprehension of the duties of your
country towards the Belgian people who oppose the
enemy with an indomitable resistance. I come to
London with my colleagues of Finance and of the Navy
to ask of you a prompt solution of the problem on
which hangs the existence of the Belgian people.
I appeal to your friendship and to the solidarity of France
whose population in the north suffer as ours do, in order
that the Government of the Republic associate itself with us
in our measures taken with the Cabinet in London and aid us
to assure the safety of the populations of the invaded
regions. I ask of you the personal cooperation of your high
political and moral authority in presenting this to Mr.
Lloyd George and President
Wilson. Signed,
Broqueville.
I can do nothing but transmit this despatch to the President of the
United States whose humanitarian sentiments have manifested
themselves [Page 484] with so much
brilliance, at the same time supporting the measure with all my
energy. I know too well what is the frightful situation of the
Belgian population, as well as that of the occupied French
territory. I do not know what means you will utilize, but I do not
doubt that an understanding with the British Government could fairly
quickly bring a remedy to the menacing famine which would take the
proportions of a world-wide catastrophe if the Allies did not
intervene promptly. It goes without saying that the French
Government is ready to adopt all measures demanded of it which are
possible for it to take.
