File No. 763.72114/3626
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador ( Jusserand)
Excellency: Replying to your note of March 26, 1918, concerning the proposed formation of an inter-Allied committee at Paris to control the furnishing of relief and supplies to the prisoners of war of the small Allied states, I have the honor to inform you that the necessity or advisability of this proposed international committee under present circumstances is not wholly clear to this Government. The chief functions of such a committee, as I understand it, would be to recommend to various Allied governments subsidies for prisoners’ relief and to superintend the disposition of the sums so allotted. As provision for the Serbian and Montenegrin prisoners is, I believe, made entirely from loans furnished by the United States and as the transportation arrangements for the supplies are facilitated by this Government, while possible duplication is being controlled by the American Legation at Berne, it is not clear what part would be taken in this connection by representatives of the British and French Governments which, so far as I am aware, have not hitherto been engaged in this work.
So far as the Roumanian prisoners are concerned, this Government under present circumstances is not disposed to consider their claims to relief, while in the case of the Portuguese it is believed that assistance can properly be rendered by their own Government. If the Italian Government should request assistance for its prisoners, who are believed to be in serious straits, the adoption of some concerted plan might, perhaps, be advisable, and this Government would be glad at any time to take such a plan into consideration.
Accept [etc.]