862.00/856: Telegram
The Commissioner at Berlin (Dresel) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received March 22—7:03 a.m.]
210. Bauer, Chancellor, and Schiffer, Minister of Justice, in a talk with a reliable American correspondent, stated that the political [Page 269] situation was very precarious. They stated that the most promising means of saving Germany and all Central Europe from Bolshevism would be a strong statement by the American President whose word would carry great weight if he declared that no raw materials or foodstuffs could be furnished a Germany adopting an ultraradical form of government.
I transmit this suggestion with all reserve as it is possible that the German Government (1) exaggerates somewhat the danger from the extreme left and (2) hopes to commit the United States to a definite far-reaching program of relief.