124.63/98: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in Austria (Wiley)
51. Your 134, March 22, 6 p.m. While we shall undoubtedly change the status of our representation in the reasonably near future we are not yet prepared to put the Legation in “official liquidation” with a view to converting it into a Consulate General only. When this time comes, our consular treaty with Germany92 is so liberal that we see no necessity for seeking further assurances regarding requisite privileges and immunities.
Military Attaché will shortly be transferred to Praha. Commerce Department is planning to designate Richardson as Trade Commissioner and Stebbins as Assistant Trade Commissioner temporarily and instructing them to remain with Commerce clerical staff at your disposition until they receive further instructions.
From our point of view the Consulate General in Vienna will be one of our most important offices. The interest in developments in Austria, the refugee problem, the widespread connections of Americans with Austrian individuals and firms are such that we consider that your most effective work, even if it is not dramatic, will be performed in the course of the next few months. There is no present intention of moving you for some months to come and the Department [Page 462] is looking forward to profiting by your best efforts in helping tide over a difficult and delicate situation.
We shall have ample time to consider questions of staff and others affecting the establishment in a routine way by mail.
- For text of Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Consular Rights, signed at Washington, December 8, 1923, see Foreign Relations, 1923, vol. ii, p. 29.↩