800.515/7–545

No. 890
The Director of the Office of Financial and Development Policy ( Collado ) to the Assistant Secretary of State ( Clayton )1

I have discussed the attached with Admiral Leahy, who tells me he does not know whether the Secretary has talked to the President about the proposed letter from the President to the Secretary of War2 on German financing, nor whether the President has signed it. He agrees with me, as does Mr. Despres, that in view of the present form of [the] reparations agreement,3 it would be unwise, although [Page 827] perhaps not absolutely fatal, for the word “facilities” to be included in the first charge sentence of the directive. I have accordingly prepared the attached second sheet4 in which this word is omitted. The Admiral thought perhaps you might be able to have this page substituted whether or not the President has actually signed the original.

  1. Printed from the ribbon copy, which is unsigned.
  2. See document No. 884.
  3. See documents Nos. 971 and 972.
  4. The only attachment to this document is a substitute page 2 which is identical with the final paragraph of document No. 884 except that the word ‘facilities” and the commas preceding and following that word are omitted. The proposed substitution was not made.