711.00 Statement July 16, 1937/241
The Chargé in Yugoslavia (Reed) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 24.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegraphic circular instruction of July 22, 6 p.m., 1937, in regard to the declaration made by the Secretary of State on July 16, 1937, and to my despatch No. 795 of July 28, 1937,31 concerning the action taken to obtain from the Yugoslav Foreign Minister such comments as he might care to make in regard to the principles featured in the statement.
Subsequent calls at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have failed to achieve any results. I have been repeatedly assured that Dr. Stoy-adinovitch has read the statement of the Secretary of State with much sympathy and that he sincerely shares the sentiments set forth therein. But I have been equally repeatedly informed that no message of endorsement can be given without his express authorization and that, as he is traveling from place to place in Dalmatia and South Serbia, the Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs has been as yet unable to obtain such authorization. This statement, that the Foreign Office has been unable to get in touch with the Foreign Minister, may or may not be true, although, from the very fact that the movements of the Foreign Minister are reported at length in the press, I am strongly inclined to the belief that it is untrue. In any event the present matter demonstrates beyond question the absolute inability of any Yugoslav official to take any action, of more than routine importance, without the express authorization of Dr. Stoyadinovitch.
Today, following the receipt of the Department’s telegraphic circular instruction of August 12, 6 p.m.,31 I again talked with the [Page 788] Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs and this time, in addition to stating that the Foreign Office has been unable to get in touch with the Foreign Minister, he added that of course the Foreign Minister would wish to consult with the other members of the Balkan and Little Ententes before issuing any message of endorsement. Such solicitude for the feelings of the other members of the two ententes is rather astounding when it is recalled that none of these were consulted prior to the conclusion of the Italo-Yugoslav33 and Bulgarian-Yugoslav34 accords of early 1937.
Respectfully yours,