800.6354/353: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom ( Winant )

2067. Your 1924 of April 17. Negotiations with the Bolivian Government and producers now nearing completion here, contemplate an increase in the price to be paid by Metals Reserve Company. No consideration has been given in these negotiations to the question of whether the contract between the International Tin Committee and Metals Reserve is or is not operative, the basis for the negotiations having been the increased costs of the Bolivian producers. The attitude of our governmental agencies in these negotiations should have made it completely clear to the Bolivian Government that Metals Reserve Company is not insisting on the maintenance of a 50 cent price. Unless there are other reasons for the desire of the Bolivian Government for the cancellation of the agreement with the Tin Committee which we do not perceive, the Department cannot see any reasonable basis for the reservation of the Bolivian Government in this respect. Metals Reserve concurs in this view.

Hull