800.51W89 France/916: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Straus) to the Acting Secretary of State
[Received June 19—12:45 p.m.]
286. When Monsieur Paul-Boncour returned my call this morning he brought up the question of the nonpayment of debt installment on June 15 saying that he wanted to emphasize to me as had already been done by Ambassador Laboulaye in Washington that this however did not in any way change the French point of view with respect to their recognition of their obligations and their intentions of settling them in connection with a discussion of the entire debt question. He said that the fact that the reply from the White House to the French note on this subject had stated that the nonpayment of the installment of December 15th and June 15th had not even as yet been discussed, made him feel that now was the time to undertake such discussion and that if certain principles of payment of the debt question could be agreed on these principles would enable the Government to go to Parliament with some hope of obtaining a reversal of their previous attitude on the former installment. It was his belief that before some discussions of this character and before some agreements in principle there would be no possibility of changing the French parliamentary attitude which he said was even more opposed to payment now than at the time of the December 15 nonpayment when the Radical Socialists Party had supported Herriot out of personal loyalty but at present he was convinced that for the most part they would vote against payment.
I outlined to him the bad effects on American public opinion of these nonpayments and the difficulties with our Congress and he said [Page 881] that we were of course each faced with parliamentary difficulties and the necessity for obtaining parliamentary authorizations for regulation of the question. He said that to his mind the worst thing that could take place at the moment would be another refusal by the French Parliament to make payments and therefore that new facts and in particular some indications of the general line of an ultimate agreement on the whole debt question would be necessary. He touched upon the old arguments that the moratorium had put a new factor into the debt situation of the world which would have to be taken into account in any form of regulation. He expressed his own good will and that of his Government to make earnest efforts to find a solution.
Repeated American delegation, London.