865C.515/1
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury (Morgenthau)
My Dear Mr. Secretary: Mr. Feis and Mr. Livesey14 have informed me of your request for an expression of opinion in regard to the reported British plan for withdrawing Italian lire from circulation in Tripolitania and replacing it with British military authority notes overprinted with the word “Tripolitania”.
As I understand it, this would contemplate formal action of some sort on the part of the British authorities requiring the complete conversion of outstanding lire into the new British currency. It would seem to mean that for all practical effects, Tripolitania would have only one currency, and that expressed in sterling as the unit.
If my understanding of the suggestion, as I have just set it forth, is correct, I doubt it is advisable, and I am not convinced of its necessity. There would be, as far as I can tell, no objection to the use by the British of a special military currency designated for use and circulation in Tripolitania; such currency is being used both by ourselves and the British in North Africa at the present time. The enforced substitution, however, of a currency expressed in sterling for all Italian currency might give rise to misunderstanding. It furthermore seems to run contrary to the general principle by which I believe the various departments of this Government are in agreement that resort should be had as soon and as fully as possible to the use of local currencies in reoccupied areas.
I should be obliged if you would let the British Treasury authorities know of this opinion provided the basis of it seems to you clear and adequate.
Sincerely yours,
- Frederick Livesey, Chief of the Financial Division.↩