561.311F1/165: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Bingham)
209. For Morgenthau from Wallace. It is necessary for us to announce our final wheat reduction plans in the near future, preferably by the end of this week or early next week.
If you do not secure definite agreement this week, we will proceed Monday to announce procedure as follows: We will require those farmers who receive benefit payments to reduce their acreage 10 percent from their 3-year average. (After allowing for possible increases by farmers not participating, this will mean only 1 or 2 percent reduction below acreage actually seeded for 1933 harvest. In effect this will prevent any increase in acreage sown for next season, but permit of a considerable increase in acreage actually harvested above that harvested this season.) If no agreement is secured for similar reductions in other exporting countries, we will reduce our internal carry-overs by export dumping, especially to Oriental markets, [Page 816] or by financing exports in other ways. Use this information as you see fit to hasten the conclusion of your negotiations.
Press reports here indicate you have made substantial progress toward agreement on part of importing countries. If this is not correct we would like to announce our acreage reduction plans this Saturday.
We are making this slight reduction as an evidence of our ability to operate and as an indication of our goodwill, even though the other countries are not able to go along this year.
Please wire us the present status of your negotiations, whether you hope to have any binding agreement this week, and your reaction to plan just sketched. [Wallace.]