851.5151/962: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
870. For Secretary of the Treasury from Cochran. This forenoon I informed Baumgartner of Department’s 348, September 14, 11 p.m., and left with him all of paraphrased text of the British note to us.
The French had not yet received the text of the British reply to them since Monick is not arriving with it until 4 o’clock this afternoon. In the circumstances Baumgartner will present our communication to the Minister of Finance only after Monick arrives. Baumgartner said they would then call me to the Ministry either tonight or tomorrow.
Baumgartner sees that we are all in agreement on motives and intentions. His problem is to convince the Minister that the American and British replies offer a sufficient basis for developing the French request for unilateral devaluation in a form that will be accepted by the French public as a realization of international “monetary peace”. The Ministry of Finance is entirely cognizant of the tense situation obtaining here now as a result of labor difficulties and does not want to give the public and particularly the Communists a reason through undisguised devaluation for rioting and perhaps upsetting the Government. [Cochran.]
- Telegram in two sections.↩