441.11 W 892/64b
The Secretary of State to the Assistant Secretary of State (Olds)
Sir: You are requested to make such arrangements as may be necessary to enable you to reach London about September 18, 1926, where Mr. Phenix will report to you the results up to that date of the examination which, in collaboration with Mr. Broderick, Commercial Counselor of the British Embassy at Washington, he has been instructed to make of the records of the British Government with respect to the [Page 245] claims and complaints of American citizens against that Government arising out of the war which have been filed with the Department of State.
When you have familiarized yourself with the situation as reflected by the information contained in the synopses prepared in the Department and amplified from the records of the British Government, summarizing the significant features of the complaints and claims which are the subject of the present instruction, you will arrange through the American Embassy at London for a conference with Sir Austen Chamberlain for the purpose of discussing with him in the light of the information before you and of the general position of this Government with respect to the above mentioned claims and complaints, those fundamental questions of policy which underlie the problem of settlement. I desire you to explore the situation fully and frankly with Sir Austen and to endeavor to obtain his approval of some definite procedure for the formal consideration by the British Government of those complaints or claims regarded as meritorious by the Government of the United States, and falling within those categories with respect to which liability may in all the circumstances properly be imputed to the British Government.
In your discussions with Sir Austen you should make it clear that you are acting as my personal representative and that you enjoy my fullest confidence in the matter. You should emphasize that my object in sending you to London was to expedite the conclusion of some satisfactory arrangement for disposing of all of the complaints and claims in question. You should impress upon Sir Austen the importance which I attach to the prompt adjustment of the matter through the conclusion of some agreement whereby provision can be made for the payment of compensation to claimants whose cases prove meritorious in all the circumstances. In your discussions with Sir Austen you will bear in mind the general principles which I have orally outlined to you with respect to the steps which this Government would be prepared to take to promote the settlement of the entire question.
I have [etc.]