868.51Refugee Loan, 1924/28
The Secretary of State to the French Ambassador (Jusserand)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s communication of January 4, 1924 in which you state that the Government of Greece has inquired of the French Government whether it would be disposed, in order to promote the conclusion of a loan and the establishment of the refugees in Greece, to waive the right of veto provided by the so-called Tripartite Financial Agreement of February 10, 1918. You indicate that in view of the particular circumstances of the case the French Government is disposed to act favorably upon such a request if it learns that the American Government is for its part prepared not to avail itself of the right conferred by Article 4, the British Government, you state, having already manifested its intention to assume a similar attitude under the same reservation.
The Greek representative in Washington on July 24, 1923 communicated with the Department32 with regard to the flotation of a loan, under guarantees to be given by Greece, in connection with the financing of further relief work and inquired concerning the granting of assent by the Government of the United States as contemplated in the Financial Agreement of February 1918. In reply the Greek representative was informed that this Government desired to see the exigency for work of relief in the Near East properly met and that the question which he had raised had received and would continue to receive most careful and sympathetic consideration.33
Under date of September 18th an inquiry was received from the British Government34 of a somewhat similar nature to that contained in your note under reply. The American Embassy in London on October 12 indicated to the British Foreign Office35 that the Government of the United States would not be disposed to offer any objection to the pledging of security by Greece in connection with a loan at that time for the purpose of dealing with the refugee situation, provided the governments of Great Britain and France should likewise agree to raise no objection.
I may add that the view of this Government in the matter, anxious as it is to facilitate in any proper way the solution of the refugee problem in Greece, has not undergone any change. This Government is, moreover, of the opinion that any foreign loan [Page 285] which may be floated by Greece under the present circumstances could best be utilized for the purpose of the settlement of the refugees. It would desire therefore to place no impediment in the way of the Greek Government’s furnishing security for any credits that may be obtained by Greece for such a purpose.
In the concluding paragraphs of the Embassy’s communication the Department’s attention is directed to the observations of the Greek International Financial Commission with regard to the Protocol of October 17th36 and the desirability of sanctions in case of the failure of the Greek Government to meet the dispositions of the law setting up an international control. While the Department is not in possession of information on this point sufficient to justify a detailed expression of opinion with regard to the observations of the Commission, it is felt that the control which might be exercised over the expenditure of any advances obtained by Greece for the purposes of refugee relief is a matter which the agencies making the advances to Greece would be most competent to determine.
Accept [etc.]
- Foreign Relations, 1923, vol. ii, p. 356.↩
- See Department’s communication of Aug. 7, 1923, ibid., p. 360.↩
- See telegram no. 401, Sept. 19, 1923, from the Ambassador in Great Britain, ibid., p. 375.↩
- See telegram no. 278, Oct. 10, 1923, to the Ambassador in Great Britain, ibid., p. 377.↩
- See footnote 31, p. 283.↩