852.48/216
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Spanish Ambassador called to see me at his request. The Ambassador began the conversation by requesting that the subject matter which he desired to discuss with me be regarded as strictly confidential. The Ambassador then went on to say that he had received a couple of days ago a confidential message from his Government saying that the situation of the refugees within Loyalist territory was becoming desperate. At the present time in a portion of Spain which normally is occupied by some eight millions of people there are residing over eleven and one-half millions, an excess population of three and one-half millions; within this territory many villages have been destroyed, whole districts in cities and towns are in ruins, and there is consequently not nearly enough accommodation within which these persons can be housed. Furthermore, most of them have [Page 366] no means of livelihood nor have they the wherewithal with which to purchase more than a minimum amount of food. In addition to this, the natural food supply is running short and the increasing destruction of merchant vessels bringing supplies to Loyalist ports is reducing materially the foodstuffs which can be obtained outside of Spanish territory. The Ambassador went on to say that hundreds of thousands of people are now gravely undernourished and ill clad and that conditions will reach a desperate stage during the winter if, as the Ambassador believes, the civil war will last for an indefinite period.
The Spanish Government desired to remind this Government of the humanitarian efforts which this country had so often made, as in the cases of Belgium and of Germany, Russia and many Central European countries after the World War. It wished to know whether there is not a possibility that some charitable agency in the United States would undertake the work of attempting to relieve this distressing situation among the civilian refugees in Loyalist Spain, particularly the women and children.
I told the Ambassador that necessarily I was very much moved by the statements he had made to me and that we here in the Department of State could not but give sympathetic attention to the suggestion made. I said that I thought I had a right to feel proud of the record of the American people who had never let political considerations enter into their minds when it was a question of relieving human distress in other parts of the world. I added that of course I could give him no positive or definite statement as to what could or could not be done but that he might rest assured that we would immediately commence a consideration of this matter. I asked the Ambassador if he could tell me with any definiteness the exact number of individuals among the civilian refugees who now required assistance and in particular additional food supplies. I also asked if the Ambassador could tell me how many charitable organizations, dependent on foreign funds, were engaged in relieving distress in Loyalist Spain. The Ambassador told me that he could not answer either of these questions with any precision but that he would cable to his Government and let me have the necessary information early next week.