840.48 Refugees/896: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy)
705. For Rublee. Your 1311, November 14, 6 p.m. After consultation with Mr. Myron Taylor we feel that to call a meeting of the officers of the Intergovernmental Committee at this juncture would be unwise. As you know, we have ordered Hugh Wilson back to this country for report and consultation, and feel that a delay on your part of a week or 10 days would be amply justified in order that we have the benefit of his report here.
In general, the nature of your report is approved with the exception of point 9, which we feel strongly should not be touched upon. We realize that the British are constantly pressing to have the Committee made an auxiliary of the League High Commission and that they are no doubt saying that this will be necessary if the negotiations with Germany fail. Our opposition to such a development has not lessened. Furthermore, we feel it would be bad tactics to discuss what should transpire in the event of a German refusal to receive you, unless and until such refusal has in fact been received.
In general we envisage procedure along the following lines:
- 1.
- Continuing pressure upon the Germans for an early “yes or no” reply concerning your visit.
- 2.
- Concurrent and intensified pressure upon the countries of settlement for specific commitments on a contingent basis (Department’s 688, Section 2, point (1)). The problem of financing this settlement and providing each settler with a reasonable minimum of capital is, we are convinced, simpler than finding opportunities for settlement. If the opportunities can be found we have reason to believe that funds can be found with comparative ease. The reaction in Great Britain to the latest developments in Germany should be of assistance in inducing the British to bring pressure on the Dominions and colonies and perhaps other Governments. Parenthetically, Mr. Taylor has had a fairly hopeful talk with Prime Minister MacKenzie King.54 We are prepared to bring diplomatic pressure upon the Governments of this hemisphere.
- 3.
- If the German reply is a refusal to receive you or if the negotiations in Berlin are not fruitful, and we are not optimistic concerning [Page 826] them, the problem will clearly become one of settlement through private financing. At this point the work of the Committee may well become more rather than less important in that it will be an essential focal point both for pressure upon the countries of settlement and for a fund-raising campaign.
It is suggested that in the meantime you give immediate consideration to a specific public appeal to the countries of settlement which the British and ourselves, in our respective spheres, can reinforce diplomatically.
- Mr. Taylor’s interview with the Canadian Prime Minister took place on November 6, in New York.↩