868.51/1602: Telegram

The Minister in Greece ( MacVeagh ) to the Secretary of State

170. The Department’s telegram No. 141, June 20 [19], 1940. I have now received reply in the form of a first person note signed by the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs stating in substance as follows:

1.
The Greek Government desires to assure the Government of the United States that it has “never dreamed” of treating the American Government loan of 1929 less favorably than the 6% 1928 stabilization loan.
2.
It desires also to assure the Government of United States that the suspension of payments which has occurred since November 1938, and which has been due only to Greece’s economic difficulties, is provisional and will disappear as soon as circumstances permit. At that time the service of the loan in question will be resumed in the same proportion as that of the stabilization loan and an attempt will be made at the same time to pay the interest in arrears.

The rest of the note is devoted to a defense of Greece’s good faith and an exposition of her difficulties, which may be real enough at present but hardly explains the failure to make the payments now overdue.

MacVeagh