859B.01/144
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
The Danish Minister18 called to see me this afternoon. The Minister said that he had three main questions to take up.
The Minister raised the question of Greenland as his third point. I told the Minister, in order that he might have no further apprehension, that both the British and the Canadian Governments had been reminded by the United States of the policy announced by this Government in the year 1920, namely, that the United States would not be disposed to recognize the existence in any third government of the right to acquire Greenland, and that the position of the United States Government today was identical with that which it had assumed in the year 1920. I stated that this Government did not see that there was any imminent possibility of Germany making any effort to attempt to allege the right to control Greenland because of the existing occupation of Denmark, but that if such a situation arose, the position of this Government would be made entirely clear along the lines indicated.
The Minister said that he was tremendously relieved to have this information and that he felt this would settle the question in a manner entirely satisfactory to the best interests of his own country.
He stated that the people in Greenland had stocks of food supplies sufficient to last for at least 2 years and that, consequently, he did not believe that any relief questions arose at this moment. He said, however, that he intended to have a talk with Mr. Norman Davis19 in the near future to canvass the situation with him.
[Page 356]He further stated that the situation of the people in Greenland would be greatly alleviated if normal trade between the United States and Greenland could continue and that one of the great sources of income for the Greenland people was the sale of kryolith [cryolite?] to American buyers. He said that such sales totalled about $800,000 a year and that certain American interests normally buying these supplies had already approached him in the matter. He stated that he would like also to have a talk with the appropriate officials in the Department concerning this problem, and I said the Department would be very glad to confer with him on this matter whenever he so desired.