Office of the Historian

740.00119 Control (Finland)/1–1645: Telegram

The Minister in Sweden (Johnson) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]
Stockholm, January 16, 1945—6 p.m.
[Received 11:50 p.m.]

196. Ake Gartz, Finnish Minister of Commerce and Industry, in private conversation last night with member of Legation staff made following points:

1.
Mr. Gartz said that first question which Finnish Government would raise with any American representative in Finland would be [Page 636] that of obtaining credits with which to tide over national economy during next 2 years, in order that reparations to Russia could be got well into production. He said the Finnish Government has debated advisability of approaching me even prior to appointment of an American observer in Helsinki14 on this question but said that sheer lack of time and fact that in so small a country ability and responsibility was shared by so few people had prevented preparation of necessary data for submission to this Legation.
2.
Minister of Commerce was correspondingly chagrined when Legation’s representative summarized briefly Department’s 2550 December 19, 10 p.m., 1944. Mr. Gartz quite understood philosophy which motivated our Government’s point of view but said that unless credits could be secured from United States he could not see how Finland could meet its obligations or restore its economy. He said, “Without credits the game is up.” Mr. Gartz added that the Finns had tried in vain to secure assent of Soviet indemnity delegation to including a force majeure clause in schedule of reparations payments.15 The schedules were now complete following agreement on prices described in Legation’s press telegram 5245 December 2316 and provided for exact quantities of each commodity which Finns must deliver to Russians over next 6 years. Schedules would be published in near future.
3.
As for Finland’s actual requirements for a loan Mr. Gartz dismissed as fantastic the memorandum prepared at behest of Governor of the Bank of Finland, Ryti, and given to Mr. John Scott17 as indicated in the Legation’s despatch 4469, November 9, 194418 which estimated Finland’s need for foreign credits totalling $250,000,000 in the next 2 years. Emphasizing that he was thinking out loud and making a rough mental calculation, Mr. Gartz said that it was calculated that of manufactured metal products Finland must deliver to Russia between 35% and 40% of the value thereof would be in form of imported raw materials. Taking this as a base he estimated in a preliminary way that during last 2 years Finland would require foreign exchange totalling $50,000,000 for indemnity purposes.
4.
In response to a question the Minister said that negotiations with Sweden in which he is now engaged, and for which the principal Finnish delegate is the former Minister to Sweden, Professor Wasastjierna, had progressed satisfactorily. The Swedes in effect, he said, had promised to tide over Finland during first year of the indemnity payments but it made it clear that it was beyond their power to do much more than this. Queried as to recurrent report that Soviet Control Commission in Helsinki had told the Finns to “look to their friends the Swedes and Americans” for aid in paying reparations, Gartz said that he thought it was true that in a sarcastic way the [Page 637] Russians had made such a reference to Sweden, but he doubted that they had mentioned the United States in this connection.

. . . . . . .

The principal impression had by the Legation’s representative from his talk with Mr. Gartz was that the Finns have been pinning their hopes for salvation on financial and economic aid from the US; that they will be correspondingly shaken by finding that our policy is in general opposed to extending of such aid; but that they will not desist in their efforts to explore every possibility for securing help from us.

(Paraphrase to Helsinki by pouch).

Johnson
  1. For documentation on the reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Finland, see pp. 624 ff.↩
  2. Reference is to reparations agreement between Finland and the Soviet Union of December 17, 1944; see telegram 5104, December 18, from Stockholm, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iii, p. 623.↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. Time and Life correspondent in Stockholm who had drawn up an extensive report on Finland at the request of the United States Legation in Stockholm.↩
  5. Not printed; this despatch transmitted Mr. Scott’s report to the Department.↩