800.51 W 89 Czechoslovakia/19: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Minister in Czechoslovakia ( Einstein )

10. Department’s Number 9, March 7, 1923, 3 p.m.11

World War Foreign Debt Commission is only empowered to deal with definite signed obligations of foreign Governments (see Section 2 of the Law of February 9, 1922, transmitted with the Department’s instruction of February 28, 192211) and not to undertake negotiations with a view to reaching an agreement as to actual amounts owed. The Department understands that the indebtedness of the Czechoslovak Government to the United States includes certain outstanding and unsettled accounts.

At your earliest opportunity, you may suggest to the Minister of Foreign Affairs that, in view of the foregoing, it would be very helpful to both Governments concerned, if it were found possible for his Government to empower its Debt Mission to negotiate a settlement of these accounts and give binding obligations to this Government upon its arrival in this country, in order that the entire indebtedness of the Czechoslovak Government may be included in the subsequent negotiations with the World War Foreign Debt Commission.

Report by cable decision of the Czechoslovak Government in this matter.

You may again orally inform the Minister of Foreign Affairs that the foregoing is, of course, not applicable to the Czechoslovak indebtedness to the Shipping Board.

Hughes
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