841.24/2100
Mr. Edward C.
Acheson, Economic Adviser on Reciprocal Aid to
the Office of Lend Lease Administration, to the Assistant
Secretary of State (Acheson)
Washington, June 21,
1943.
Dear Dean: You will recall that several
days ago you had a meeting with Messrs. Stettinius, McCloy70 and Harriman71 at which was discussed
the matter of urging the British to make available to us the figures
which they undoubtedly have with respect to cost of goods and
services delivered to us as reciprocal Lend Lease. I attach the
memorandum which was the basis of discussion at the meeting referred
to.
We would be obliged to have you call the matter to the attention of
the British Ambassador72 in whatever manner you think is appropriate to
accomplish the desired end. If you will inform us when this has been
done we will arrange to cable Harriman in order that he may discuss
the matter with Sir Kingsley Wood.
I believe that it is generally agreed that:
- 1.
- There are some items of aid which, in the nature of things
it is extremely difficult to value fairly; such, for
instance, as the supplying of valuable information, the use
of permanent or semi-permanent camps and air fields, which
were turned over in whole or in part to U.S. forces;
- 2.
- These items can best be recorded as “out-of-pocket
expenses” with no attempt to allocate the value of services
rendered by these installations;
- 3.
- There is also, I believe, general agreement that it might
be well to leave a considerable area of uncertainty in order
to prevent too mathematical a comparison of aid given and
received;
- 4.
- Furthermore, we feel the British should be reassured that
while we would like to have the maximum amount of
information made available for our confidential use, they
will be consulted as to the amount of information which it
is desirable from time to time make public.
We think these points might be made clear in your discussion of the
subject with the British Ambassador rather than spelled out in the
memorandum itself.
Mr. Denby73 and I will be glad to discuss
this with you further when we see you tomorrow.
Sincerely yours,
[Page 54]
[Enclosure—Memorandum]
Monetary Valuation of Reciprocal Aid
For some time we have weighed the wisdom of placing a monetary
valuation on the Reciprocal Aid afforded us by our Allies. A
year ago there seemed to be excellent reasons for refraining
from valuing this assistance in monetary terms: today those
reasons have either ceased to exist or have lost much of their
efficacy through subsequent circumstances. Hence, we have now
come to the conclusion that much can be gained by making public
in a thoroughly understandable fashion the magnitude of the aid
we have received, and we most strongly urge our Allies to make
available whatever figures they may have accumulated.
Our reason for this alteration in policy is the alteration in the
facts surrounding our operation. We now feel that only by a
monetary comparison can the American people be convinced that
the United Nations are actually pooling their resources. We now
feel that a system of accounting in which dollars are placed
vis-à-vis quantities opens both our Allies and the Lend-Lease
Administration to a charge of evasion. We feel that the
considerable interest in monetary value of Reciprocal Aid which
has been repeatedly expressed in both houses of Congress may,
quite rightly, and very shortly, crystallize into a demand for
the data. We consider it only wise to begin now the accumulation
of these figures. Finally and most earnestly, we feel that,
since the terms of the Master Agreements exclude the possibility
of translating the Lend-Lease Reciprocal Aid accounts into a
debt, the Congress and the American public not only have the
right to know but the duty to learn the magnitude of the
sacrifice which our Allies have sustained to further our war
effort.
For the foregoing reasons, we are convinced that monetary
valuations should be compiled and suggest that, in the
furtherance of international amity and in the light of
Lend-Lease commitments to Congress, our Allies, through the
medium of the August Lend-Lease Report, make public all figures
they may deem it wise to disclose. These figures will
undoubtedly be estimates. They will bind no one to anything.
They will be expressed in terms of the foreign currency without
reference to a specific rate of conversion. They will be
comparable to Lend-Lease figures which are expressed in dollars
and which our Allies neither accept nor reject, since in nature
of the Master Agreements the value thus expressed is “charged”
against no foreign account.
With this first step, we will have gone a long way to dissipate
the mystery and secrecy concerning Reciprocal Aid. We will have
demonstrated beyond any doubt that Lend-Lease is no longer a
unilateral arrangement. We will have vividly shown that the word
[Page 55]
“charity” is wholly
inapplicable and that “generosity” is universal among united
nations. In subsequent reports to the Congress, we can make a
fuller and fuller disclosure, in terms which the man in the
street can understand, of the part our Allies have played in
strengthening America’s hand in the common cause.
