462.00 R 294/364: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Herrick)
196. L–89, for Logan. Your L–175.54 Department after careful consideration of your suggested reply, desires you to reply as follows to the Belgian letter:
“I beg to acknowledge your courteous letter of June 14 relative to certain sums on deposit with La Comptabilité des Gages which [Page 145] you state should, in the ordinary course, be deposited with the Reparation Commission. You state that ‘In order that this deposit may not give rise to discussions which every one agrees are superfluous at this time and inasmuch as it appears certain that the Reparation Commission itself would allocate these sums to the Belgian priority under reserve of such rights as may accrue to the United States under the agreement of May 25, 1923, it has been decided that the sums in question shall be turned over directly to Belgium, Belgium remaining accountable for them to the Reparation Commission and eventually to the United States for the portion which may be payable to it’. You add that in conformity with the letter which Mr. Bemelmans addressed to me on November 22, 1923, the Belgian Government is ready to deposit in a special blocked account 25 percent of the cash above referred to, and you request to be informed of the desires of my Government in the matter.
My Government, understanding from your letter that the Allied Governments signatories of the Army Cost Agreement are agreeable to the proposed disposition of the funds in question, is prepared to accept the suggestion which you have made concerning the amount which it is proposed to set aside for payment in due course to the credit of the American Army Cost account. My Government will be pleased should the Belgian Government see fit to carry its suggestion into effect by causing a special account to be opened in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to be known as the ‘American Army Costs Account’ in which shall be deposited in dollars the proper proportion of the sums in question and withdrawals from which shall be made upon the order of the Treasurer of the United States as soon as the agreement relative to the reimbursement of the costs of the American Army of Occupation becomes effective or prior thereto in accord with the Reparation Commission or the governments signatories of the Army Cost Agreement.[”]
- Supra.↩