811.24 Raw Materials/553: Telegram

The Chargé in the United Kingdom ( Johnson ) to the Secretary of State

212. Department’s 72, January 12, 1 p.m. In talks with the British officials concerned with rubber the Embassy has among other things emphasized the fact that American stocks dropped about 20,000 tons between the outbreak of war and the close of the year, leaving American manufacturers with only about two and a half months’ supply, a fact that was disturbing to the American Government from the point of view of national safety. After discussions with Campbell,18 Figg,19 Clauson,20 and Pawson,21 it would seem that at the present time the British Government as such has no preconception against an 85% rubber quota. On the contrary the disposition is at present favorable, although no detailed consideration has yet been given to the ensuing statistical position.

Campbell gives the impression of a beaten man as far as the Committee is concerned and it may be hard even for his own Government to induce him to get in and fight at the next meeting. In the conversation with him he kept emphasizing how the Committee had turned him down on three occasions. But Figg who is now in the Colonial Office is prepared to do “groundwork” before the meeting.

An opportunity presented itself to have a word with Clauson, who is now an Under Secretary of the Colonial Office, and he was disposed to give serious consideration to the question of instructing Campbell to use his statutory voting powers for Malaya but at the same time he pointed out that this would serve no useful purpose unless the Dutch were willing to go along and not oppose an 85% quota, that the combination of the Dutch plus the British unofficial members could block such action. Clauson informally expressed the hope that we would take suitable steps at The Hague. …

The meeting is scheduled for February 20 and if Viles himself can come over it would obviously be desirable. Incidentally Campbell complained that Beharrel22 has not made a forceful and adequate presentation of the consumers’ case at the post-war meetings and stated that the minutes of the meetings give the impression that Beharrel has been better than in fact he was.

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In any case the Embassy would appreciate in any instructions given it prior to the meeting that at the same time it be accorded discretion as to whether or not the representation should be committed to writing and be of a formal or informal character. Needless to say the present attitude of the British Government is conditioned by the statistical picture at the year’s end and the course of American consumption in the period prior to the meeting may prove to be an important consideration. Consequently it would be helpful if the Embassy could have as soon as available the January consumption figures and the future estimates. Incidentally the British rubber buyer23 is now finding it difficult to obtain first quarter rubber.

Not repeated to The Hague.

Johnson
  1. Sir John Campbell, Chairman of the International Rubber Regulation Committee.
  2. Sir Clifford H. Figg, member of the Ceylon delegation on the International Rubber Regulation Committee.
  3. Capt. Gerard L. M. Clauson, alternate member of the Malayan delegation on the International Rubber Regulation Committee.
  4. A. G. Pawson, Secretary of the International Rubber Regulation Committee.
  5. Sir George Beharrel, British representative on the advisory panel of the International Rubber Regulation Committee.
  6. John Riddell.