Office of the Historian

611.626/149: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Wallace)

Washington, March 24, 1920—10 a.m.

594. For Rathbone from War Trade Board and Davis. This cablegram is very urgent and should be referred immediately to Rathbone. Embassy’s 707, March 13, noon, your R–421.13

  • Paragraph 1. You state in Paragraph 7 that unless we place orders immediately for dyestuffs to be filled from the remaining 1200 tons of our allotment under the 5200 ton agreement, that those 1200 tons of our unused balance will be turned into the remaining 5000 ton pool and redistributed among the Allied and Associated countries. Harold and Chapin will take the position that the allotment referred to above is subject to disposition by the United States alone and that the Allies would be accountable to the United States for any action they may take with respect thereto contrary to the wishes of the United States. Accordingly, Harold and Chapin will take the position that those 1200 tons of dyestuffs must be held by Germany subject to future orders from the United States. We have on several occasions recommended that a procedure be adopted by the Allied and Associated Governments which would insure that no one country would draw on its allotment in excess of the quantities required for its individual consumption. If the other Allied and Associated countries had been disposed to give assurances that they would not draw on their allotments except to the extent required to satisfy their needs for domestic consumption, we would have given similar assurances most willingly. Indeed we urged the adoption of such procedure. The procedure and the assurances referred to above have not been given by the Allied and Associated Governments and it now appears that some of the countries have already exhausted their entire allotments. Accordingly, this Government will act as it may see fit with regard to its allotment. For your confidential information should statement be made that our participation in the options under Annex VI should be less favorable than the position of those Governments who have ratified the Treaty, it should be noted that in the first place we may yet ratify the Treaty of Versailles and that therefore the United States Government will not, in the meantime, permit derogation of its rights.
  • Paragraph 2. We were not advised that the Sub-Committee had jurisdiction to decide the important matter of the disposition of any country’s allotment. If the Sub-Committee has the jurisdiction and if Harold and Chapin are unable to make plain the position of the United States, a postponement of decision by the Sub-Committee should be obtained until the arrival of Perret, Chief of War Trade [Page 494] Board, who sails for Paris on the Savoie on Saturday, March 27th. It is particularly necessary at this juncture that Harold should not adopt a weak attitude.
  • Paragraph 3. The matters referred to in this cablegram have been discussed with Polk who approves of its contents.
Colby
  1. Not printed.↩