893.51/6947: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France (Bullitt)
573. Your 1381, July 26, 7 p.m. The Chinese Ambassador here informed the Department on July 21, that the Chinese stabilization fund is practically exhausted and expressed the hope that further financial assistance would be forthcoming. He was informed that we could not lead him to expect an encouraging reply but that the Department would study the whole subject.
The suggestion that the United States purchase the Chinese Government silver deposited in the British and French Concessions at Tientsin has been made to the Treasury Department informally on several occasions by the Chinese. The Treasury has taken the position that in view of the circumstances pertaining to this silver the matter of its purchase is a political one. For your strictly confidential information the considered opinion of the Department has been and is that any move of this Government toward acquiring a property interest in the silver in question would be inadvisable.