611.5431/502
The Minister in Switzerland (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 20.]
Sir: With reference to the Department’s telegram No. 70 of October 7, 6 p.m., I have the honor to report that, meeting Mr. Stucki, Delegate [Page 801] of the Swiss Federal Council for Foreign Trade, in Geneva recently, I brought up the matter outlined in the telegram. After I had spoken in the sense of your instruction, Stucki replied that he had been concerned at the thought that the Swiss devaluation might cause any upset to the convention existing between our two Governments. The Swiss, he continued, had been decided to maintain the previous gold value of the franc, even in the event of France’s devaluation. The factor which changed their decision was the collaboration shown between the United States, Great Britain and France,6 coupled with the appeal for a more liberal international trade policy. These factors made it possible to envisage an amelioration of the general economic situation, and Switzerland was anxious to play its part and to share in the recovery perhaps made possible by these acts. Nevertheless, the devaluation had aroused bitter hostility in certain quarters and the Government was under serious attack. It would, therefore, be lamentable, said Stucki, if one of the first results of the Swiss devaluation was the denunciation by the United States of the Trade Agreement, which the Swiss people felt had reestablished the happy relations between our two countries which had been badly impaired by the previous tariff act. He recognized the force of your arguments and hopes it will be possible to prove by the application of their liberalized measures how much they appreciate trade with the United States.
Respectfully yours,
- See vol. i, pp. 535 ff.↩