500.C115/405

The Director of the International Labor Organization (Butler) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Carr)

Sir: Following on the conference which took place in your office today with reference to the contribution of the United States to the expenses of the International Labor Organization, I am writing to inform you that in accordance with the resolution adopted by the International Labor Conference in June of this year inviting the Government of the United States to acquire membership in the Organization, it was agreed that the question of the contribution should be settled by negotiation between the United States Government and the Governing Body of the International Labor Office. It is hoped that this negotiation may be brought to a satisfactory conclusion at the next meeting of the Governing Body which opens on January 31st, and an invitation is extended to the United States Government to be represented at that meeting.

In the meanwhile, however, I am authorized to commence the negotiation and have been instructed to suggest that in accordance with the principles laid down in our financial regulations the amount of the United States contribution, having regard to the economic and financial importance of the United States, should be so calculated as to amount to the equivalent of the contribution payable by Great Britain to the expenses of the Organization. As to the period to be covered by the American contribution, it is not expected to begin to run until [Page 740] the first of January 1935, which is the beginning of the first full fiscal year of the Organization after the United States joined it.21

I should be very glad to receive your observations in the matter and if necessary I can consult the officers of the Governing Body by cable in order to obtain their views which will in all probability be accepted by the Governing Body as a whole.

I am [etc.]

Harold Butler
  1. The Governing Body of the International Labor Organization, which met at Geneva, January 29 to February 2, 1935, approved this arrangement. The sum to be paid by the United States was to be equal to that paid by Great Britain, namely, 105 out of 1,011,38903 units in the budget of the organization. The United States’ contribution during the calendar year 1935 was set at $174,630, which was appropriated by Congress in an act approved March 22, 1935 (49 Stat. 67, 73).