Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1922, Volume II

868.51/434

Memorandum by the Assistant Secretary of State (Dearing)

[Washington,] March 8, 1922.

Mr. Frederic C. Scofield³⁶ came to see me this morning and left with me the attached letter.³⁷ I told him that the Department could not look with favor upon a loan to an unrecognized government, and he then showed me that he had a copy of the Department’s letter of January 30 to Marvin and Pleasants to this effect. I told Mr. Scofield that the Greek Government was not yet recognized, that, of course, the Department would be delighted to have $15,000,000 spent for coal, wheat, and machinery in the United States, but that there were a number of other elements in this situation, and that I was afraid that we could not answer him other than as in our letter to Marvin and Pleasants. I said that I supposed he knew the Near Eastern situation was still disturbed and that this Government was opposed to lending money for militaristic expenditure, and that it might be possible for Greece by making this loan in this country to release funds obtained elsewhere, and thus cause this loan in effect to be an aid in a military way. Mr. Scofield said that he knew the Department of Commerce would like to have $15,000,000 spent in this country for coal, wheat and machinery and that he hoped that this feature of this proposed financing would make it more acceptable to the Department.

Until we shall have further word from Mr. Wadsworth³⁸ and have adopted some policy with regard to recognition, I do not see how we can do anything further than to reply as we have done previously to all those who have consulted us about possible loans to Greece.³⁹

D[earing]

36. Member of the law firm of Wellman, Smyth & Scofield, New York City.
37. Not printed; the letter, from Geo. R. Rock & Co., manufacturers’ representatives, requested Mr. Scofield’s firm to ascertain the Department’s attitude on the $15,000,000 loan the Greek Government were seeking to place in the United States.
38. Presumably Mr. Eliot Wadsworth, Assistant Secretary of the Treasury.
39. On Mar. 23 Mr. Scofield was informed by letter of the Department’s policy, in terms similar to the Secretary’s reply to Messrs. Marvin & Pleasants, supra.