550.S1 Washington/742
Memorandum of a Conversation Between American Representatives and the Czechoslovak Minister (Veverka), May 18, 193323
| Present: | The Secretary of State |
| The Czechoslovak Minister and a member of his staff | |
| Mr. Livesey (as spokesman) | |
| Mr. Moffat | |
| Mr. Greene | |
| Mr. Sussdorff | |
| Mr. Culbertson |
Mr. Livesey gave the customary summary of previous conversations on the monetary and economic phases of the problems to be taken up at the coming conference, indicating at the same time the tentative position of our Government thereon.
At the conclusion of Mr. Livesey’s exposition the Czechoslovak Minister stated that he believed that the suggestions which had been made would in general meet with the approval of his Government, particularly with regard to the matter of silver as a metallic cover, though he believed that there were some special problems in connection with Central Europe which would be important to consider. Moreover he believed that discussions up to now had been somewhat hypothetical and that proposed action on one matter had been rendered too dependent upon action on another matter. He seemed to intimate that the matter of an international fund in connection with currency stabilization, to which we had taken a negative stand, might be favored by his Government as the latter was extremely interested in alleviating indebtedness in Central Europe. Czechoslovakia was not a heavily indebted country, but frozen debts surrounded it in other countries. Mr. Livesey stated that we recognized the special nature of this problem, a solution to which would have to be worked out at the Conference. He pointed out that the creditors were private individuals and corporations and not governments. He again emphasized our position with regard to American subscription to any international fund, which the Minister stated he understood. Mr. Livesey went on to say that there must be some adjustment of private debts as part of the full program. The Minister stated that that was what he meant, and then added that he believed in fact that his Government was skeptical of being able to reach that result by an international fund. Mr. Livesey and the Minister thereupon agreed that our positions seemed to be identical in respect to such a fund.
[Page 528]The Minister suggested there might be some doubt as to getting agreement among governments with reference to a public works program. Mr. Livesey explained that there would be no attempt to deal with this in detail by international action, and, moreover, the desired effect would probably be achieved by agreement among only of [sic] a few of the big powers. The Minister expressed doubt as to the establishment of an international money system. Mr. Livesey explained that he had not referred to an international currency, but to an inter-relation among national currencies. It really meant a gold standard,—he added that we tried to avoid saying the gold standard.
The Minister then indicated that it would appear to him that the question of exchange restrictions was most important, among those considered, to the Czechoslovak Government. At this point he read extracts from an informal memorandum24 on the subject based on instructions from his Government, which he left with Mr. Livesey.
The Minister stated further that the problem of exchange restrictions was a somewhat delicate one for his country inasmuch as it did not yet possess a detailed tariff, and that consequently his Government was obliged to make use of, from time to time, exchange restrictions in order to correct its tariff.
The Minister stated that he believed his Government approved of general reduction of tariffs, but that the question was complicated by depreciated currencies. He understood that the actual solution was to be sought for at the conference. His Government, he thought, also viewed with favor a tariff truce providing an equitable average base could be arrived at, implying that such an equitable average base was not present when some countries approached the tariff truce with high duties and others with low. He had asked his Government for an instruction as to the conditions under which they would subscribe to the tariff truce, and would soon inform this Government of the reply which he believed would be favorable.
The Minister said that he believed his Government was also in agreement with the ideas on the most-favored-nation clause which Mr. Livesey had explained, though due to special conditions in Central Europe it might be necessary to have some latitude for preferential agreements in that region. It was well to have in mind in this connection the particular relations between the Danubian countries and Germany. Wheat surpluses and similar problems would have to be considered.
The Minister said that he believed his Government was interested in agreements between manufacturers, as suggested in the League [Page 529] of Nations experts report.25 Mr. Livesey informed him that we had not gone into that matter.
The Minister expressed the belief that, before the conference there should be some effort made to adapt American and Czechoslovak trade statistics which, being made up now by different methods, produced inconsistent results, which did not permit of helpful comparison. He stated that he had a memorandum on this matter and would take it up later.