894.51/325
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Castle) of a Conversation With Mr. Thomas W. Lamont, of J. P. Morgan & Company, in New York City on January 28, 1932
In the course of conversation last night I said to Mr. Lamont that it would look as though Japan, who must be up against it financially, would be looking for further advances in this country. Mr. Lamont [Page 93] said that they had not so far requested any loan, but that if they should do so there would not be a chance in the world that their request would be granted. He said that New York had no money to loan except on the best of security, that Japan, at the moment, was anything but good security, since its trade had so greatly fallen off and since the country had gone off the gold basis. He said very firmly, “New York is not going to lend any money whatsoever to Japan at the present time.”