Office of the Historian

861.24/1798a: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)

Washington, June 1, 1944—8 p.m.

1380. Appropriate security agencies today authorized release on a confidential basis of 1943 statistics of U.S. production, consumption and exports of manganese ore, tungsten, cobalt, vanadium and platinum to Soviet Purchasing Commission, Washington.

The need has arisen for statistics showing USSR production and imports of the minerals listed above. This information will be treated in a confidential manner. The requested information should be transmitted to the Department by cable as soon as possible. The Embassy is authorized, if necessary to obtain the requested information, to point out to the appropriate USSR authorities that similar U.S. information has been made available to the USSR Purchasing Commission in the U.S.

The Department feels that it might be advisable to take up at this time the question of the future exchange of statistics on a reciprocal basis.

Hull