811.515 Silver/6: Telegram
The Consul General at Shanghai (Cunningham) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 20—9:20 a.m.]
372. Have been requested by Dr. H. H. Kung, Minister of Finance, to transmit by cable to President Roosevelt, the following in paraphrase:
The London silver agreement of July 193323 received the signature of China’s representative and has more recently been ratified by the [Page 441] National Government of the Republic of China with the understanding that its major purpose was to assure the stability of the price of silver which was thought menaced by the large surplus stocks held by the Government of India and Spain. The preamble of the agreement states in part that it is to the advantage of China that sales from monetary stocks of silver be offset by purchases as herein provided, with a view to its effective stabilization.
It now appears that under the Silver Purchase Act of 193424 the stability of the price of silver and the interests of China are as much menaced as by the previous situation of potential sellers. China would therefore appreciate an indication of the probable policy of the United States in the future purchase of silver in order that China may properly safeguard her currency, which has recently been flowing out of the country to a degree that is potentially alarming.
- Foreign Relations, 1933, vol. i, p. 763.↩
- Approved June 19, 1934; 48 Stat. 1178.↩