800.51W89 Lithuania/111
The Lithuanian Minister (Balutis) to the Acting Secretary of State
Sir: In my Note Verbale of June 15, 1933,22 I had the honor to make a brief statement of the situation which confronted the Lithuanian Government and which was created, on one hand, by the requirements of the Debt Funding Agreement entered into by our respective Governments on September 22, 1924,23 and, on the other hand, by the distressing general economic and financial conditions of today.
In the above mentioned note I ventured to point out that the Lithuanian Government was and is sincerely desirous of honoring its international obligations up to the limit of its ability and capacity; that in proof of its good faith it made an extraordinary effort to meet its obligations in full on December 15th last,24 but that, in face of the increasingly adverse economic and financial conditions, it regrets that it is no longer in a position to continue the payments in full compliance with the terms set forth in the said agreement of September 22, 1924.
In the light of subsequent events, some elucidation of the attitude of the Lithuanian Government seems to be desirable. The Lithuanian Government, having in mind the attitude of the Government of the United States clearly declared during conversations relating to the payment of December 15th last,—the attitude according to which the Government of the United States felt it was not in a position to change the terms of the Agreement in any form or manner whatsoever and, consequently, was unable to grant any relief from the strict observance of the terms of the said Agreement,—had logically come to the conclusion that nothing less than a strict and full compliance with the terms of the said Agreement would be satisfactory and acceptable to the United States Government in June when the next payment was due. This assumption on the part of my Government seemed to become a certainty in view of the fact that the results of the inquiry made by me as late as May 17th—as to the possible attitude of the Government of [Page 900] the United States,—did not indicate any change in the existing situation.
Being thus confronted with the situation which seemingly required the payment of the June instalment of this year in full, and being unable to do so because of adverse economic and financial conditions, the Lithuanian Government deemed to have no choice in the matter and, consequently, was compelled to inform the Government of the United States that it “sincerely regrets that it is unable to meet the payment due to the United States Government on June 15, 1933.”
Subsequent development of events has since demonstrated that a part payment on account of the instalments due and payable to the Government of the United States by various debtor nations is acceptable to the United States Government.
In view of the above, the Lithuanian Government, desiring to give proof of its good faith and determination to meet its obligations in the best way possible, has instructed me to pay to the Government of the United States, as a part payment of the June 15th instalment due from Lithuania to the United States of America, the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars.
Bringing the above information to your knowledge, I have the honor to inform you that proper steps were taken by me to have the said sum of Ten Thousand Dollars, payable to the order of the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, paid to the Assay Office in New York City on this 23rd day of June.
At the same time I am instructed also to repeat the expression of hope entertained by my Government that an opportunity for a discussion of the debt problem with a view of its proper readjustment to the existing economic conditions, may be offered as soon as possible.
Please accept [etc.]
- Not printed.↩
- Combined Annual Reports of the World War Foreign Debt Commission, 1922–1926, p. 144.↩
- See note of December 15, 1932, from the Lithuanian Minister, Foreign Relations, 1932, vol. i, p. 798.↩