File No. 763.72/6088
The Minister in Norway ( Schmedeman ) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 1, noon.]
I beg to report to the Department for what it is worth that the Swedish Minister who … has just returned from a visit to Stockholm called upon me a few days ago after having spent the previous evening in the company of German Minister for the purpose of discussing the question of exports from the United States to Scandinavia, explaining that too severe measures would affect the neutrality of Sweden; my replies were entirely non-committal. He then tried to sound me as to the attitude of the United States towards the war and asked my opinion as to its probable duration. I replied that it was impossible for any one to predict duration of the war but that it would certainly continue until we had accomplished our purpose. He said that all the nations now wished for peace and that he knew [Page 1037] from information received that France ardently desired it. His visit gave me the impression of having an object and his pretext for making it was futile.
[For a summary of the state of British negotiations with the northern neutrals regarding tonnage, see the letter from the British Ambassador, August 3, 1917, ante, page 916.]