File No. 367.11/1972c
The Secretary of State to the Spanish Ambassador ( Riaño)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: In acknowledging the receipt of your note of March 27, referring to the offer of His Majesty the King of Spain, made through you to the Joint Distribution Committee and to the American Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relief, to cooperate with them in their work for the destitute inhabitants of Syria and Palestine, and particularly suggesting that money and foodstuffs might be sent from the United States to a Spanish port and thence transshipped to a Spanish bottom which would take them to Asia Minor, I desire to express the cordial appreciation of the Department for this offer by His Majesty the King, and to inquire whether in the circumstances it might be possible, if the relief supplies were thus sent by Spanish ships to Syria and Palestine, for these ships, after the food and medicine had been distributed, to convey American citizens from Syria to a Spanish port. According to the information possessed by the Department, there are about 1,500 American citizens in Syria and Palestine, of which number approximately 100 are American missionaries.
I am [etc.]