771.00/9–2154: Telegram
The Consul at Rabat (Porter) to the Department of State1
43. Resident General broadcast speech yesterday evening which made following point: immediate improvement of agricultural salaries; granting of syndical rights; economic recovery; opening of public functions to young Moroccans; apprenticeship in democracy for Moroccans in local and regional assemblies; study of reorganization of central power in free Franco-Moroccan consultations; creation of council of diverse political opinion to study reforms. Translation by pouch.
Resident General handed me text just prior to recording. He said it contained “nothing essentially or substantially new” but he hoped we would find in it enough to enable us to help the French in UNGA. His chief of cabinet stated speech “aimed at Americans”.
Examination of text indicates Lacoste correct when he said contains nothing new. Morcccans may derive some encouragement from statement that Resident General “in order calm sentiment of population and permit certain persons to express their sentiments freely, proposes to end certain measures of internment”. The speech disappointing not only because it for most part merely reiterates what has often been said or promised by French, but also because it fails to indicate that Resident General has had any success in his intense effort to induce cooperation of important Moroccan elements.
- This telegram was repeated to Paris, Tangier, Casablanca, and Tunis.↩