800.51W89 Rumania/206
Memorandum by the Chief of the Division of Near Eastern Affairs (Murray)
Daily Report
Rumania. During a call from the Rumanian Minister yesterday he told me of his conversation with the Secretary last Wednesday when he delivered a note from his Government stating that it was obliged to suspend all further payments on its indebtedness to this Government pending a re-discussion of the entire problem.
Mr. Davila said he had been told by Mr. Arthur Krock of the New York Times that the President at his press conference yesterday had expressed no little annoyance at the emphasis given in the press to the reference to payments in kind contained in Mr. Hull’s latest note to the British Ambassador. Mr. Davila said that the idea of payments in kind by Rumania interested him considerably and that he intended to discuss the matter with Mr. Titulescu, the Rumanian Foreign Minister, as soon as he reaches Rumania about July 1st. He stated that the Rumanian Government owns large virgin forest reserves that might be exploited for export to this country. He added that in view of the present deplorable state of Rumanian finances his Government could not afford to incur any large expenses in the exploitation of its forest reserves and hinted that an arrangement might be made through Mr. Peek’s74 organization for the advancement of credit for the above purpose. He expressed the opinion that such shipments of Rumanian lumber in liquidation of the Rumanian debt to this Government might be useful in the President’s housing program.
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[See also Department of State, Press Releases, June 16, 1934, page 402; ibid., December 22, 1934, page 412.]
- George Nelson Peek, president of Export-Import Bank of Washington, D. C.↩