860c.51/1084

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Poland (Cudahy)39

No. 329

Sir: As soon as possible after your return to Warsaw, you are requested to call upon the Minister for Foreign Affairs40 and to say to him that it has come to the attention of your Government that while the Polish Government failed to make payment in the United States on October 1, 1936, on account of the 6 per cent Dollar Loan of 1920, the service charges on which fell due on that date, it met the coupons which were due on October 1, 1936, on the bonds of the Silesia-Gdynia [Page 420] Railway issue held in France. This Government further is informed that the payment due in Italy on November 1, 1936, on the Polish Tobacco Loan, and the payment due in Great Britain on November 15, 1936, on the City of Vilna issue, which was refunded in London in 1931, were also made.

You should say to the Minister that if this information with respect to payments made by the Polish Government in countries other than the United States is correct, these payments constitute discrimination against holders in the United States of a direct obligation of the Polish Government (i. e., the 6 per cent Dollar Loan of 1920) on which that Government in the Loan Agreement of February 26, 1920, unconditionally undertook to make payment in the United States. You should state that the Government of the United States is reluctant to believe that it is the intention of the Polish Government to pursue a policy with respect to the payment of its foreign obligations which will involve discrimination against American holders of Polish obligations, and that your Government has instructed you to obtain assurance that the Polish Government will take effective action to accord to American holders the same treatment that it accords the holders in other countries of its obligations.

Please report briefly by telegraph, and fully by despatch, the result of your conversation with the Minister.

There is enclosed, for your information, a copy of a memorandum41 which sets forth the facts, so far as they are known to the Department, in connection with the suspension by Poland of payments in the United States.

Very truly yours,

E. Walton Moore
  1. Sent to the Ambassador while en route to his post.
  2. Col. Jozef Beck.
  3. Not printed.