800.51W89 Latvia/107

The Minister in Latvia (Skinner) to the Secretary of State

No. 947

Sir: To complete the record, I wish to report that I saw the Minister for Foreign Affairs yesterday, who related that his Government, through the Latvian Consul General in New York, had again asked the United States Government for a postponement of the payment of the Latvian debt, due on December 15, and that no reply had been received. As Mr. Zarins expressed a good deal of interest in this matter I mentioned to him informally that the reply without doubt would be approximately identical with that addressed to the French Government,14 and I happened to have a newspaper copy of the note to France, which I left with him. He seemed to be a good deal concerned about the expectation of the American Government that a payment would be made on December 15, and said that only the Cabinet Council could take a decision on the matter. I gathered that the payment would be made on the due date. It was also made quite clear to me, rather by inference than by any positive statement which I could elicit, that the Baltic Governments had been in touch with each other and with the principal European Powers, and had certainly modelled their attitude upon the attitude assumed by the principal Powers.

Respectfully yours,

Robert P. Skinner
  1. Note of November 23, p. 732.