462.00 R 294/555
The Agent General for Reparation Payments (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 12.]
Dear Mr. Secretary: I have the honour to advise you that at its meeting in Berlin on September 18, 1926, the Transfer Committee considered the policy to be followed during the third Annuity year in liquidating the priority of the United States of America on account of Army Costs in arrears. This priority arises, as you know, under the provisions of the Finance Ministers’ Agreement of January 14, 1925,7 and amounts to 55,000,000 gold marks for the year. It takes the form of “a first charge on cash made available for transfer by the Transfer Committee out of the Dawes Annuities, after the provision of the sums necessary” to cover the prior charges for the service of the German External Loan, 1924, and the other priorities contemplated by the Agreement.
The Transfer Committee, after consideration, adopted a resolution authorizing the Agent General for Separation Payments to make monthly payments during the third Annuity year, for the purpose of liquidating the priority of the United States of America, up to the amount of 55,000,000 gold marks for the year, “the payments to be made in twelve monthly instalments and to be so arranged that each instalment represents substantially the same proportion of the monthly income available in the Annuity”. This resolution, of course, has been taken under full reserve of the Transfer Committee’s [Page 162] general powers under the Experts’ Plan.8 The Secretary of the Committee has, in regular course, transmitted a copy of the resolution to the Reparation Commission for its information, and I am enclosing a copy of it herewith for the information of the Department.9
I have the honour to advise you further that in pursuance of the resolution adopted by the Transfer Committee I have made arrangements for the transfer to the United States of America of the equivalent in dollars of 890,600 gold marks, representing the share of the United States of America in the programme for the month of September, 1926, on account of the priority for Army Costs in arrears. This transfer will be carried out on September 30, 1926, by the payment of this sum in dollars to the credit of the Treasurer of the United States with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The share of the United States in subsequent monthly programmes, on account of its priority for Army Costs in arrears, will be stated in the quarterly programmes presented in regular course to the Reparation Commission. The programmes for September, October, and November, 1926, have already been presented, and in addition to the foregoing September payment provide for a monthly share in October, 1926, of 3,339,700 gold marks, and for November, 1926, of 3,348,500, both on account of the priority for Army Costs in arrears.
I am transmitting a copy of this letter and its enclosure to the Secretary of the Treasury for his information.
I am [etc.]
- Foreign Relations, 1925, vol. ii, p. 146.↩
- See Foreign Relations, 1924, vol. ii, pp. 1 ff.↩
- Not printed.↩