868.00/3–2547
The Acting Secretary of State to Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr.
My Dear Senator Lodge: I wish to acknowledge and thank you for your letter of March 25, 19471 suggesting an amendment to S. 938 which would read as follows:
“As a further condition precedent to the receipt of any loan, credit, grant, or other form of financial aid under paragraph (1) of section 1, the government requesting such aid shall agree not to use any part of the proceeds thereof for the making of any payment on account of the principal or interest on any loan made to such government by any other foreign government.”
As I stated to you during the course of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings, I am in general agreement with the objective of your amendment and would have no objection to the inclusion of such an amendment in the bill. As a drafting matter, I think the amendment might be more conveniently incorporated in the bill as an additional clause (e) in section 3, which would then read as follows: [Page 133]
“Sec. 3. As a condition precedent to the receipt of any assistance pursuant to this Act, the government requesting such assistance shall agree (a) . . . . . .2 and (e) not to use any part of the proceeds of any loan, credit, grant, or other form of financial aid rendered pursuant to this Act for the making of any payment on account of the principal or interest on any loan made to such government by any other foreign government.”
Sincerely yours,