File No. 835.6131/42
The Ambassador in Argentina ( Stimson) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9.28 p.m.]
Department’s December 29, 7 p.m., and my December 29, 4 p.m.1 I have just called upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs at his request. He informs me that his Government is prepared to recommend acceptance of the wheat convention by Great Britain and France alone, with the clause providing for a supply of coal by the United States eliminated, on condition that I will embody our conversation, in the course of which I informed him of the contents of the Department’s December 29, 7 p.m., in a formal note addressed to him. After considerable discussion I agreed to submit the following form to the Department for its consideration. It embodies the Department’s instructions precisely except only that it omits express mention of the Allies. The Minister for Foreign Affairs explained that he was most anxious to obtain a form which would meet with the approval of Congress, the session being resumed on January 3. The British Minister is very insistent that the negotiations should now be carried to a conclusion, and he informs me that he and the Minister for Foreign Affairs have now agreed upon everything save a minor detail in the question of exchange.
The following is the form of the note which, after the conversation referred to, it was proposed I should send to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, concerning which I beg to request the Department’s instructions.
Referring to the agreement made between the Argentine Government and the Governments of Great Britain and France concerning the sale of 2,500,000 tons of the Argentine wheat crop, I take pleasure in assuring your excellencies that the United States Government will assist in the same by permitting so far as is possible, that is to say, immediately after supplying the necessities of the United States and the war, the exportation, in the ships coming from the United States for said wheat, of combustible for the actual requirements of the Argentine people.
- Latter not printed.↩