871.6363/201

The Minister in Rumania (Jay) to the Secretary of State

[Extracts]
No. 634

Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s telegram No. 19 of July 3, 1924, 4 P.M., in regard to my proceeding to Washington for consultation in connection with the unsatisfactory attitude of the Rumanian Government. …

… The Minister for Foreign Affairs returned to Bucharest July 16th following which we went to Sinaia on July 17th for a conference with the King. A Council of Ministers was held the morning of July 18th and I was received the same day at noon by Mr. Duca at the Foreign Office.

During this interview I presented a Note No. 73 dated July 10th, of which a copy is herewith enclosed, wherein I stated that my Government had instructed me to proceed to Washington for a consultation on the unsatisfactory attitude of the Rumanian Government with respect to American interests. In this note all the points made in the Department’s telegrams Nos. 19 and 2222 are clearly set forth.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have [etc.]

[For the Minister:]
Lawrence Dennis
[Enclosure]

The American Minister (Jay) to the Rumanian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Duca)

No. 73

Mr. Minister: I have the honor to inform Your Excellency that I have just received instructions from my Government to proceed to the United States for the purpose of consultation with the Department of State on the attitude of the Rumanian Government towards American interests.

It is, at the same time, my duty to make known to Your Excellency the considerations which have guided the Government of the United States in arriving at the decision stated above. The recent passage of the mining law, as I indicated to Your Excellency in a series of earnest and renewed representations, has been a matter of grave concern to my Government in view of the possibility which this law appears to offer for a course of action on the part of the Rumanian [Page 619] Government which would have a detrimental effect on American interests. Moreover, this law is only the most recent of a succession of measures taken by the Rumanian Government during the past two years which cannot fail to give the impression that the Rumanian Government is not prepared to accord to American interests the treatment which those interests may reasonably expect from the Rumanian authorities. Thus, the commercial indebtedness law; the failure of the Rumanian Government to satisfy the just claims of its American creditors, such as the Baldwin Company; the Consolidation Loan programme; the attitude assumed by the Rumanian Debt Funding Commission sent to the United States; are not thought by my Government to give evidence of a desire on the part of the Rumanian Government to improve existing relations with the United States.

In consideration, therefore, of these just grounds for dissatisfaction, and with a view to adopting a course of action which may be susceptible of effecting a change for the better in this situation, also with the further object of bringing clearly to the attention of the Rumanian Government the concern with which recent developments have been viewed by the Government of the United States, it has been decided to summon me to Washington.

My Government directs me to make plain, not only to the Royal Government, but also to my Colleagues, that my journey to the United States has been ordered for the purpose of consultation in connection with the unsatisfactory attitude of the Rumanian Government towards American nationals and their interests. It is furthermore the purpose of the Government of the United States that due publicity shall be given to the reasons for my return.

I avail myself [etc.]

Peter A. Jay
  1. Ante. pp. 613 and 615.