800.6176/80
The Minister in the Netherlands (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 24.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s instruction No. 204 of January 27, stating our Government’s view that at a time when there is good prospect of expanding consumption of rubber it is considered most important that the above-named Committee authorize releases of rubber sufficiently large to meet current requirements, and instructing me informally to point out to the appropriate Netherlands officials that our Government would consider further reductions of rubber stocks unfortunate and unwise, especially in view of present world conditions.
I received this instruction on February 10 and endeavored to see the Foreign Minister that afternoon, but as he was not in his office, I called upon him the following morning and brought these views of our Government to his attention, requesting that he in turn apprise the Dutch delegates to the Committee of these views prior to the Committee’s meeting next Tuesday, February 14. This Dr. Patijn agreed [Page 861] to do at once, and I have since received a personal note from him stating that he had communicated the views of our Government to Dr. Hart, who has succeeded Prof. van Gelderen as head of the Netherlands delegation to the International Rubber Regulation Committee, and that Dr. Hart had assured him that the Committee at its meeting would not fail to pay full attention to our views.
The foregoing is all right as far as it goes, but it would seem open to question as to whether the communication which I made to the Netherlands Government might not have received fuller consideration if the Department’s instruction had reached me somewhat sooner. It should also be pointed out that apparently it was only by a fortunate coincidence that I even received this instruction before the meeting had taken place, the coincidence existing in the fact that fortunately last week, for the first time since I have been at this post, we received two pouches in one week from London—normally the pouch containing this instruction would not have reached me until later this week.
Respectfully yours,