Office of the Historian

File No. 763.72114/2902

The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]
London, September 22, 1917, 12 a.m.
[Received 4.10 p.m.]

7232. Your 5282, August 9, 5 p.m., and 5392, September 7, 6 p.m.1 Howland2 not yet arrived, but as A. C. Harte of Y.M.C.A. sails for United States today, a Foreign Office conference was held yesterday which he attended with representatives of the Embassy and the American Red Cross. Harte proposed a plan for feeding and clothing, via Copenhagen or Stockholm, as large a proportion as possible of two and quarter million Allied prisoners in Germany and one and a half million Central Power prisoners in Russia. Leverton Harris, Deputy Minister of Blockade, and Sir Eyre Crowe of Foreign Office, promised that this proposal would be considered and intimated that only questions were:

(1)
Whether food and clothing could be spared;
(2)
Whether security against diversion to enemy use would be adequate, particularly in Russia.

Harte considers Scandinavian base essential for administering this scheme, which he will explain to Department on arrival.

Page
  1. Latter not printed.↩
  2. Charles P. Howland, representing the American Red Cross in prisoner-relief work.↩