875.6363/93
The Chargé in Great Britain (Wheeler) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 21.]
Sir: With reference to your Instruction No. 827 of March 14, 1923, concerning the oil situation in Albania and the concessions procured by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd., I have the honor to state that secretaries of this Embassy interviewed L. I. Thomas, Esquire, Vice President of the Standard Oil Company of New York, and Montague Piesse, Esquire, the Standard Oil Solicitor in London, respectively.
The Solicitor expressed the desire that information given in his interview should not be sent to Washington without the permission of Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Thomas, who gave practically the same information as that given by the Solicitor, stated that he intended to see Mr. Harrison directly on his return to the United States, and would give him full particulars of the Albanian situation. He therefore requested that the Embassy should not forward the substance of his conversation re Albania to the Department.
While the information given by the Standard Oil officials above mentioned does not seem to be of a confidential nature, I take it that there will be no objection on the part of the Department to our respecting their wishes, particularly in view of the fact that Mr. Thomas is to see Mr. Harrison on his arrival.
Mr. Thomas spoke in the highest terms of the work of Mr. Grant-Smith, American Minister in Albania.
I have [etc.]