893.51/5928
The Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hornbeck) to Mr. Thomas W. Lamont of J. P. Morgan & Co.
Dear Mr. Lamont: In my informal letter to you under date October 3, 1934,15 I expressed the hope that the Department would, within the near future, make available to you the texts of memoranda exchanged under dates August 10 and August 21 between the representatives of the French, the British and the American Governments in China and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the subject of the Hukuang Loan.
In this connection, I assume that you have already noted the Department’s letter to J. P. Morgan and Company under date October 11,15 to which were attached copies of the texts of the memoranda under reference.
With reference to the obligation of the Chinese Government under the Hukuang loan agreement, it may be remarked, for your information and such use as you may care to make of the point, that the obligation under discussion is one with regard to which the Department, although it has declined to subscribe to various formulae of interpretation drafted and offered by some of the other interested governments and/or their respective banking groups, has at the same time refrained from offering and contending for any particular formula [Page 561] of interpretation of its own. It may also be stated that it seems to us here that when approaches are made to the Chinese Government in regard to its outstanding obligations in this connection, especially when these approaches involve written and multipartite communications, it would in general be expedient to make references in broad terms to the provisions of the loan agreement which relate to the obligations in question and to rely upon such reference rather than to attempt to construe the provisions and to insist upon some particular formula of interpretation in relation thereto.
Yours sincerely,