600.0031 World Program/120
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The new German Ambassador, Dr. Dieckhoff, came in to pay his respects, he having landed yesterday in the United States. I proceeded in the usual manner to welcome him and to offer him our wholehearted cooperation within his functions and ours at any and all times.
The Ambassador was slightly averse to any comment on world conditions, or even European conditions. I rather briefly made reference to the confused and rather chaotic economic, political, and social conditions in many parts of the world, and to the interest which every important country must of necessity have in the solution and the remedy of these conditions. I said that in Europe, after eighteen years, the only foundation for the restoration of international [Page 838] order and the normal relationships between nations were the narrowest, cut-throat, trouble-breeding methods of trade and a wild run-away race in armaments; that this was the sum total of accomplishment in the direction of world rehabilitation so far as Europe was concerned. I remarked further that to show the wide diversity of the views and attitude of statesmen after eighteen years of opportunity, as stated, to grapple with the important list of difficulties and problems involved in general rehabilitation, a distinguished statesman would come into my office this week and insist that disarmament must first be singled out and effected before attacking the general group of problems, whereas the next week an equally distinguished statesman would call and insist that monetary and exchange stability must be singled out and disposed of as a condition precedent; that another would insist that debts must be singled out and settled first; and still another would say that economic rehabilitation must be the central point along with monetary stability in any practicable program of recovery. I then suggested that while the European problems were vastly more difficult and extensive than those of this hemisphere, we had nevertheless dealt with a similar miniature situation, if I might so describe it, in a way and to an extent which we felt was encouraging to statesmen in other parts of the world, as well as ourselves. I detailed the movement then, beginning with Montevideo and ending with the Buenos Aires conferences. The conclusion I emphasized was that no other government or statesman was offering a broad or basic program for general recovery and restoration; that this program was now being universally accepted as sound and timely and comprehensive; that it was difficult at this late, confused, and chaotic stage to single out one of the problems and determine it,—at least one reason being that each important country desired to single out a different problem; that instead, therefore, it was manifest that the nations should visualize the entire group of problems and remedies and make these remedies their general and ultimate and major objective and preach the program involved and practice it as rapidly as circumstances would at all permit,—that this course alone seemed to be most feasible, and that in any event it should not be too severely criticised unless an alternative program of a superior nature was at the same time suggested.
The Ambassador did not undertake to argue, but from time to time expressed his entire agreement with what I was saying. He emphasized the encouraging note of our Pan American movement and accomplishments.