800.51W89 Poland/123
Memorandum by the Under Secretary of State (Phillips)
It was very difficult to know precisely what the Polish Ambassador has in mind with regard to negotiating a settlement of the Polish debt to the United States. The Ambassador called again today to remind me that, for a year and a half, he had been requesting the commencement of conversations on this subject and had received no reply. I reminded him that we were ready to listen to him at any [Page 591] time and to receive any proposition which he had to make, but he still believes in the desirability of having someone come from Poland—some expert with a knowledge of the situation who would undertake “pourparlers” he himself remaining in the background, as he says, to facilitate the reaching of an agreement. I asked him who he had in mind for this purpose. He mentioned first “a minister”, but then he referred later to an expert who would not have a ministerial rank. I said that, in my opinion, it seemed a pity to bring an expert to this country to discuss the debt unless we had reason to believe that we could reach some sort of an agreement and that it would probably be better for him to put his cards on the table with us before asking for the help of some one from the Polish Government.
Finally the Minister seemed to accept this idea and welcomed the thought that we might have the preliminary “pourparlers” between the Embassy and the Department; he mentioned the importance of reaching some sort of an agreement before October, which was the date on which the budget had to be submitted to Parliament.
[See also Department of State, Press Releases, June 16, 1934, page 402; ibid., December 15, 1934, pages 370 ff.]