800.51 W 89 Czechoslovakia/22
The Minister in Czechoslovakia (Einstein) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 1.]
Sir: In conversation with Dr. Beneš today he stated that he was personally in favor of a prompt funding of the Czechoslovak debt to the United States but only hesitated out of a feeling of loyalty to the other nations with whom this country was associated and who were unable to discharge their obligations. I drew his attention to the fact that this had not restrained England and also that whereas the French debt had been incurred mainly for war supplies, that of Czechoslovakia had been contracted after the armistice and principally for foodstuffs. Moreover there was another reason which at least in my opinion made it in the interest of this nation to arrange for the funding of its debt. Where, for instance, Swedish bonds without any specific guarantee sold in New York on a 5¾% basis, those of Czechoslovakia which were admirably secured had dropped 12% from their price of issue and were now selling on a 10% basis. Nothing would do so much to strengthen the credit of this country in the United States as the payment of its debt and I believed that the saving in interest on future issues would more than balance the outlay involved. I had taken the same line of reasoning with Dr. Rašin, the Minister of Finance, who promised me he would arrange for the payment (see Legation’s despatch No. 295 of December 7, 192210). His attempted assassination has unfortunately prevented his ability to put this through. Dr. Beneš has, however, assured me of his early consideration of the matter.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩