868.51 Public Works/59

Memorandum by the Secretary of State

The Greek Minister came to see me about the Seligman loan and refusal of the International Commission to place it under their debt service. He told me of a case where in 1927 a loan was under consideration and had been blocked by the French in Geneva. The mere suggestion that we would have the debt service handled by our Minister [Page 99] served to cause the French to withdraw their opposition at once. He told me that this was most important to Greece because it was necessary to carry out a rehabilitation program. I told him that we were deeply interested in it, both on account of its importance to Greece and its importance to our own nationals. I called in Mr. Castle and asked him to take it up promptly and see whether if this could not be included under the International Commission, if a new service of our own, as suggested by Greece, could not be established which could secure the credit of the bonds.