840.48 Refugees/4175: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
5180. Your 5470, August 20. The Department has considered the memorandum of August 12, 1943 which you have received from the Director of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees and concurs in all of the suggestions contained therein, with the following reservations: [Page 211]
- 1.
- The suggestion mentioned in clause (f) of part 2 is not desirable so far as any proposal to invite individuals from private organizations to become members of technical committees or subcommittees may be concerned. However, the Department would interpose no objection to the action of any technical committee or subcommittee in inviting members of private organizations to appear before them and discuss with them any proposals which may be under consideration. A distinction should be maintained between the responsible members of a committee or subcommittee, whose action should be authoritative, and the status of a technical witness or special pleader, whose opinions should be of a recommendatory character only.
- 2.
- Part 3 of the memorandum involves a proposed practice which may jeopardize the procurement in the United States of official appropriations or funds necessary to operate individual projects. It is possible that the subsidizing of private organizations would not meet with congressional approval. It is also likely that that procedure would create dissension among the various interested private organizations.
The Department concurs that it would be inadvisable to establish any permanent advisory council as mentioned in paragraph 7.
In view of the above comments and the possibility that other members will also comment on the memorandum, it would seem that a discussion of the memorandum by Executive Committee would be necessary to reconcile divergent points of view.