550.AD1/b: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in the United Kingdom (Matthews)1
1465. By direction of the President, you are requested to call immediately on the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs2 and to inform him that the Government of the United States desires to send an invitation, the text of which is given below, to the governments of all United Nations and of those American Republics which have broken off diplomatic relations with the Axis powers and are cooperating with the United Nations in the conduct of the war. Before doing so, we should like to have the views and suggestions of the governments of the United Kingdom, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and China. This government feels sure of course that the suggested initiative will be favored by the government to which you are accredited, and that we can count upon receiving its cordial cooperation in the efforts which must be undertaken to achieve the objectives sought but we would appreciate receiving at the earliest convenient moment whatever views or suggestions the government to which you are accredited chooses to express. Please request that this matter be regarded as entirely confidential until invitations can be sent to all United Nations. The text of the invitation follows.
“The Government of the United States believes that the time has arrived for the United Nations and other nations associated with them in the present war to begin joint consideration of certain fundamental economic questions which will confront them and the world after the attainment of complete military victory. As a first step in this direction, the Government of the United States hereby invites the Government of . . . . . . . to send a small number of appropriate technical and expert representatives to a conference which it proposes to convoke at some suitable place in the United States on April 27 for the purpose of providing an opportunity for an exchange of information and views relating to the following topics and for the purpose of exploring and [Page 821] seeking an agreement in principle as to the most practicable and desirable methods and means of dealing with the problems indicated below:
- “1. Post-war plans and prospects of various countries for the production, import requirements and/or exportable surpluses of foodstuffs and other essential agricultural products in the light of possibilities of progressively improving in each country the levels of consumption within the framework of an expansion of its general economic activity. It is understood that such consideration is entirely divorced from the question of the provision of relief.
- “2. Possibilities of international agreements, arrangements and institutions designed to promote efficient production, and to ensure for the world adequate supplies, of food and other essential agricultural products. Consideration would be given to the attainment of equitable prices from the viewpoint of both the producers and the consumers.
- “3. Trade, financial and other arrangements necessary to enable the countries of the world to obtain the foodstuffs and other essential agricultural products which they need and to maintain adequate markets for their own surplus production.
- “4. Possibilities of international coordination and stimulation of national policies for the improvement of nutrition and for the enhancement of consumption in general.”