811.20 Defense (M)/3041

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Acting Secretary of State

The Soviet Ambassador called to see me this evening at his request. The Ambassador informed me, in the name of his Government, that owing to a complete shortage of iridium in the Soviet Union, they could not make deliveries to the United States of iridium at this time but that the United States would be given position number one on the export list. He stated that all the opium we desired to purchase could be obtained without difficulty. Finally he stated that the United States would be placed as number one on the export list for flaxseed from the new harvest. He said there was already a shortage from the old harvest due in part to the fact that, owing to their inability to purchase jute or hemp abroad, they had been forced to utilize flax for the making of bags for which otherwise jute or hemp would have been utilized.

S[umner] W[elles]