462.00 R 296/762: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Japan (Bancroft)
209. Department informed by Logan, who will represent the United States at Paris Financial Conference meeting January 6, that Japanese Delegate to preliminary Expert Committee in Paris has confidentially advised him under instructions from Tokyo that [Page 108] following cursory examination of the subject Japanese Government sees no reason why American position regarding participation in Dawes Plan annuities should not be supported. The delegate requested that this support be considered tentative and confidential for the time being, since the question is still being studied by his Government from the legal viewpoint.
The following summary of the Department’s views and of the general situation is furnished you for discreet use in case a favorable opportunity offers for the discussion of the question with the Japanese Foreign Office.
United States believes that it is legally and equitably entitled to participation in the Dawes Plan annuities for the satisfaction not only of its army cost claim but also of the awards of the Mixed Claims Commission on account of American claims against Germany. The Belgian, French, and Italian Governments have indicated that they will support the American position on equitable grounds, and it now is hoped that the Japanese Government may also give its support.
[Here follows a summary of the British memorandum of December 8, transmitted in telegram no. 509, December 4, from the Ambassador in Great Britain, printed on page 96; and a summary of the American reply of December 9, transmitted in the Department’s telegram no. 457, December 9, supra.]