893.51/5898
The Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck) to the Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: The subject dealt with in the memoranda hereunder,66 the China Consortium, calls for consideration by the Secretary of State and, I think, the President.
I would appreciate having, if possible, on or before Friday, an expression of your wishes with regard to my going to talk with Mr. Thomas Lamont.
You need to read, for the present, only the first two memoranda. (The papers attached give informative material, especially past history.)
[Page 391]If authorized and instructed to see Mr. Lamont, I would like to be able, in addition to engaging with him in a general discussion of the China problem, to say to him that you and the President, although you have not had occasion to make any intensive study of the Consortium proposition, and although you do not wish to be committed or to be brought into discussions of the matter at this stage, are not adversely disposed in regard to the Consortium and its possibilities as an agency for cooperative action; to say that this Administration would like, in case the British, the French, and the Japanese Governments are already of that inclination, to see the Consortium agreement kept alive, in the thought that it may have future value; to say that in whatever may be done with or by the Consortium, this Administration would not wish, for the present at least, that the American Government or the American banking group take a position of leadership; to say that we believe that the leadership should be taken by the British or the Japanese; and to say, in brief, that, with an open mind as regards future possibilities, which possibilities will need to be carefully explored and sympathetically dealt with, the attitude of the Administration with regard to Consortium possibilities is one of good will and watchful optimism.
- One memorandum printed supra; others not printed.↩