550.S1/577: Telegram
The Chargé in Great Britain (Atherton) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 30—8:30 p.m.]
60. From Davis. My talks29 with the Prime Minister and Sir John Simon this morning and afternoon were largely devoted to considering ways and means of making a success of the Economic Conference and also time for holding it. They both think it important—on account of world conditions—to fix earliest possible date. Simon said that from the practical standpoint he felt that latter part of May was earliest possible date and that then the question of the June 15 debt payment would come up and asked what could be done about that. The Prime Minister added that in his opinion he could not summon a majority to vote in favor of making this payment unless the government agreed at the same time to demand payment from France and Italy which would cause great trouble. I said that unless something should happen in the meantime to change the situation, I did not see how our Government could hold out any hope of doing anything other than to request payment on June 15th; that I thought that the thing to do was to put the debts completely in the background for the time being and to concentrate upon ways and means of recovering from the [Page 475] depression, and that if we could really show that we were working shoulder to shoulder in good faith on a program which effectively held out some hope of ameliorating general economic conditions there might be some change in sentiment. This, however, was only my personal opinion and must not be taken as holding out the slightest promise but that in any case it was necessary to sit down and come to grips with the program for the Economic Conference. Before terminating the morning conference MacDonald asked whether I would like to have Neville Chamberlain and Baldwin30 attend the afternoon meeting. I replied that I doubted the wisdom of such a formal and larger meeting because of the danger of creating the impression that I was in London to deal with debts or was attempting to carry on here the type of conversations which the President suggested should be held in Washington. I said I thought that our conversations should now be purely exploratory to permit me to communicate accurately to Washington the British Government’s views with regard to the Economic Conference and then to take up disarmament and other questions.
At this afternoon’s conference we again explored the possibilities for the Economic Conference and I made it clear that as far as I knew there would be no objection on our part to the fixing of a date toward the end of May.
MacDonald then outlined his idea as to procedure for the Conference, namely, that a plenary session for a general exchange of views should be held to last only a week or two. The main delegates would then depart leaving six or seven subcommittees which could work through until the fall. He suggested one committee to deal with each one of the chapters of the annotated agenda with such readjustment of subject matter between committees as the Conference might decide.
In connection with proposed preliminary conversations between the British and ourselves I threw out the idea of working up a model commercial treaty between the two countries and possibly Canada also, which might open the way toward reduction of existing trade barriers. I pointed out that if such a treaty could be worked out between this limited group which had such large trade relations with each other it might open the way to a general form of commercial agreement. MacDonald seemed to think well of the idea and I suggested that such questions could be fully considered with a delegation which the British might send now.
MacDonald said in strict confidence that the Cabinet had opposed his going unless some assurance could be given that the June 15th payment could be postponed. He was not asking that attempt be made now to deal with the broader question of debt adjustment. He was convinced [Page 476] this would require more time than remained available between now and June 15th. While he gave me the impression that he personally desired to go to Washington, he referred to criticism here of his frequent absences from London and said that he did not feel that his Government could risk the possible consequences of his taking this trip to prepare for the Economic Conference and have all his efforts nullified by the difficulties which would arise if the June 15th payment was demanded. I made it clear that no one could give advance assurance of this character in view of the exclusive authority of Congress over the payment and that if hopes were created and not realized it would only make the situation worse. I again emphasized the importance of immediately attacking economic problems on broad lines in the hope that if these efforts were successful a situation would be created which would permit both debtor and creditor to deal in a constructive way with the problem of the debts.
The Prime Minister was called away for a conference with the King before we had concluded and we shall continue tomorrow Friday afternoon. [Davis.]
- Between March 30 and April 10, the schedule of conversations which Mr. Davis had with various officials in London, Paris, and Berlin was as follows: London, March 30, 10 a.m., Davis, MacDonald, Simon: March 30, 4 p.m., Davis, MacDonald, Simon, Allen W. Dulles; March 31, 3 p.m., Davis, MacDonald, Simon, Dulles; April 2, 6 p.m., telephone conversation between Davis and MacDonald at Chequers; April 2, 7 p.m., Davis, MacDonald; April 3, 2:45 p.m., Davis, MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin, Neville Chamberlain, Simon, Dulles; Paris, April 4, 7 p.m., Davis, Joseph Paul-Boncour, Dulles; April 5, 12:45 p.m., Davis, Édouard Daladier, James Theodore Marriner, Dulles; April 5, Davis, Henry de Jouvenel, Marriner, Dulles; April 6, Davis, Édouard Herriot, Hugh S. Gibson; Berlin, April 8, 4 p.m., Davis, Adolf Hitler, Baron von Neurath, George Anderson Gordon, Dulles, Herr Hanfstaengl; April 8, 9, Davis, Von Neurath, Herr Bernhard W. von Bülow, Rudolf Nadolny, Dulles; En route from Berlin, April 9, 10, Davis, François-Poncet; Paris, April 11, 4:30 p.m., Davis, Count Pignatti, Marriner.↩
- Stanley Baldwin, Lord President of the Council; Lord Privy Seal.↩