711.00111 Armament Control/Military Secrets/952
Memorandum by the Chief of the Office of Arms and Munitions Control (Green)
Mr. Scott Ferris, attorney for the Carp Export and Import Corporation, called at my office this morning. He said that he had had a conference with his principals in New York yesterday in regard to the proposal to purchase battleships in this country for the U. S. S. R. He said that they were greatly encouraged since the Soviet Ambassador’s conversation with the President, and that at present they were attempting to close two contracts—one for the construction of a battleship in this country, and the other for the purchase of plans, material, armament and equipment to be exported and assembled in the U. S. S. R.
Mr. Ferris said that he had been informed that Mr. Edison, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, was planning to hold a conference in his office within the next day or two at which Mr. Gibbs—the naval architect—, representatives of the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, Ltd., and the New York Shipbuilding Corporation, and officers of the Navy Department would be present. He said that he understood that Mr. Edison’s purpose in holding this conference was to thresh the whole [Page 491] proposal out in the presence of the officers of the Department who have heretofore been obstructing the carrying out of the proposed transaction, with a view to explaining the policy of the Government to them and with a view to putting an end to their obstructive tactics.
After Mr. Ferris’s departure, I called Admiral Leahy by telephone. He said that he had not heard of any proposal to hold a conference in the Navy Department in regard to this matter.