462.00R296/2882½: Telegram
The Chargé in France ( Armour ) to the Secretary of State
203. Reparation 236. I have had long discussion with Young and Lamont regarding question of appearing before Committee of Experts in connection with provisions relating to satisfaction of Germany’s obligations to the United States. My best judgment, which is based largely on their advice and intimate knowledge of situation existing in the Committee, is as follows:
Unless we are in position where we are willing to state in substance that we are ready to accept a proportionate reduction in our share of German annuity, there is nothing to be gained, at least as far as I can see now, from a meeting with the Committee. On the contrary, a very awkward situation for us might be opened up. In the Committee itself the situation is very uncertain and almost anything may happen. It is wholly possible that the Committee will be unable to come to any agreement on distribution, and that this question will have to be referred to the several Governments. It is equally possible that a break may come over conditions which Schacht has in mind regarding acceptance of Young’s figures. Schacht’s conditions have not yet been definitely formulated, but I have heard that they are likely to contain some political implications; if they do, it is probable that they will be unacceptable to the Allied groups. Were we to announce now that we are unable to accept any reduction in our share, this statement might be just enough to weight developments towards a breakdown. In any event, should break become inevitable for any other reason, the experts from the other countries would be very eager to take advantage of our position and attempt to place blame for the breakdown squarely upon us. Some of the experts would welcome a definite break provided responsibility for it could be shouldered onto someone else.
Of course I realize possible embarrassment to us which would follow from Committee’s reaching an agreement based upon plan of distribution unacceptable to us and against which in the future we should have to protest. Embarrassment from such a situation would be less, I feel, than that which would arise for us from our being placed in a position where the responsibility for a breakdown might be placed, no matter how unjustly, upon us. Even should agreement be reached and basis of distribution not be acceptable to us, our legal [Page 1068] position under Treaty of Berlin46 and Paris agreement of January 14, 1925, would remain intact. Committee has no mandate to settle distribution of German payments, and even if position be taken, such as the French take, that question of distribution is inherent in any recommendation for a final reparation settlement, we should not be bound by experts’ recommendations unless we accepted them.
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- Telegram in four sections.↩
- Treaty between the United States and Germany, signed August 25, 1921, Foreign Relations, 1921, vol. ii, p. 29.↩