Office of the Historian

560.AL/4–2847: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Consulate at Geneva

[Extract]
secret
Washington, May 1, 1947—1 p.m.

251. Reur 176 and 177. 1. Recognize “withdrawal of Australians would be calamity” and all feasible measures should be taken to keep issue open.

2. Appears fee provisions S 814, still in House Rules Committee, will be retained by House. Some possibility defeat in Senate. Prospective veto unlikely to be overridden. But in any case some action by Congress likely to clarify Commodity Credit’s1 power to purchase and to empower it to sell below support price.

3. If time permits may be advisable to delay TAC consideration reduction wool duty pending clarification situation on S 814.

4. We are asking British to call wool study group Subcom. meeting London before end May.

5. Ambassador Butler2 here and his and BC’s views on political situation will follow.

[Here follow technical details of 1941 wool offer and extract from Department’s note to Australia, September 3, 1941.]

Marshall
  1. Commodity Credit Corporation, a Federal agency under the administrative supervision of the Production and Marketing Administration, U.S. Department of Agriculture.↩
  2. Robert Butler, U.S. Ambassador to Australia.↩