File No. 860d.48/160a
The Secretary of State to the Commercial Adviser of the British Embassy ( Crawford)
My Dear Sir Richard: I have referred the Foreign Office telegram of October 28, 1918,1 which you handed me, to the War Trade Board and find that the Board approves the sending of 5,000 tons of flour to Finland, provided Scandinavian tonnage can be secured. This Government believes, however, that however small any initial shipment of food supplies to Finland may be, we should be prepared to follow it with a steady flow of materials, which will demonstrate that what we do to feed the Finnish population is not a mere matter of temporary expediency.
I shall be glad to know how your Government views this matter and hope we may reach a decision with as little delay as possible. Our view is that the withdrawal of the German troops removes the last obstacle to organizing definite measures to feed the Finnish population regardless of party, as a definite and not temporary undertaking which it may prove possible later to extend into northern Russia, as soon as that can be done without committing ourselves to the Bolshevik authorities.
I am [etc.]
Counselor
- Not printed.↩