871.75 Int.Tel.&Tel.Corp./26

The Chargé in Rumania (Wadsworth) to the Secretary of State

[Extracts]
No. 204

Sir: Just one week ago, I have the honor to report, i. e., during the evening of November 30, the Rumanian military and civil authorities proceeded in force to the search of the two Bucharest centrals of the Societatea Anonimǎ Românǎ de Telefoane, $20,000,000 subsidiary of the (American) International Telegraph and Telephone Company, with sole concessionary rights (dating from 1930) to operate all public telephone services in Rumania. At the same time a third search party descended on the private residence of Mr. G. A. Ogilvie, American citizen, Managing Director of the Rumanian Company.

At the head of each search party was a military officer, “Commissaire Royal”, accompanied by both military and civilian police, but in no instance was a search warrant shown; and, although specifically requested by Mr. Ogilvie, the leader of the search party at his house declined to identify himself even after the two civilian secret policemen of the party had shown their identity papers. These omissions, I am assured by Legation attorney Dr. Mihail Stern after careful reading of the pertinent articles of the Rumanian “Code of Military Justice”, may be considered to constitute grounds for questioning the legality of the procedure.

First stated reason for the searches was given in an official press release published widely, without editorial comment, in local newspapers [Page 679] of the following day. The following translation thereof is from Universul (No. 10,034) of December 3, as circulated on the evening of December 2:

“The military, in accord with the civil authorities, made a search of the telephone company. The search was made on the basis of information received that at the above-named company there was being practiced the interception of telephone conversations to the detriment of the superior interests of the State. Investigations are in progress.”

On December 1, Mr. Ogilvie discussed the matter with me. He repudiated wholly the charge that the company had ever in any way acted in a manner which could be construed as detrimental to the superior interests of the State. “A policy we have consistently followed in this country”, he insisted, “has been positively to avoid any inmixture in politics, either internal or external.” He was, therefore, at a loss to explain satisfactorily the motive prompting the search. He assumed it to be “one more example of the pernicious intrigue, personal or political, with which this capital is ridden.”

The following day, December 2, the company’s management published a formal denial, and a board of directors meeting was held at which a further communiqué was issued. Translations are enclosed.19

In the meantime, on December 1, Foreign Minister Titulescu had arrived in Bucharest on a two-days’ hurried visit from Geneva. At Mi. Ogilvie’s instance, Mr. Titulescu being known as a staunch supporter of the company’s concession, I requested that he receive me. A copy of my note requesting an interview is enclosed.20

Actually, prior to the writing of my note, Mr. Gregoire Filipescu, Board Chairman of the company, had seen Mr. Titulescu and enlisted his support of the company’s position. In the course of their conversation, Mr. Titulescu had suggested that if I would “solicit an audience” his hand would be strengthened. Incidentally, Mr. Filipescu, who is a Senator and President of the now almost defunct Conservative Party, feared that the search was a move in an intrigue, personal or political, directed against him.

The following morning Mr. Filipescu was informed that Mr. Titulescu had made a particular point of discussing the matter with the King,21 urging not only the “stupidity” of the charge but also that, in the present unsettled state of European affairs, the moment was highly unpropitious for the creating of any international friction. In this latter connection my request for an interview was mentioned.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[Page 680]

That evening, December 2, Mr. Titulescu left Bucharest. The following morning, Mr. C. Vallimaresco, Secretary of the Permanent Council of the Little Entente and a close personal assistant of the Foreign Minister, called on me. I quote his words closely below:

“I accompanied His Excellency Mr. Titulescu last evening to the frontier. On the train he charged me particularly with calling on you personally this morning. I am to say that His Excellency received your note and had every wish and intention to see you. He had planned the meeting for yesterday afternoon, but all his time was taken in protracted audience with the King. He caught his train, coming directly from the Palace, with but ten minutes to spare.

His Excellency directs me to say that he is well aware of the matter which you desired to discuss with him, that he has discussed it with His Majesty, that you may count on his having done and wishing to continue to do everything in his power to settle the incident satisfactorily, and that (An odd statement) you may consider arid so tell anyone if you wish that your representations were made and favorably received.”

To this I made appropriately appreciative reply and then, after repeating Mr. Ogilvie’s pointed comment as to the company’s policy of non-interference in local politics, urged on Mr. Vallimaresco the high desirability of my learning—in strictest confidence, should the Foreign Ministry so desire—the truth as to the origin of the charge against the company and as to the identity of the complainant. Mr. Ogilvie, I added, felt so strongly in the matter of the charge against the company that he did not, for the time being at least, wish to confuse the issue by raising through me the question of the illegality of the search of his private home. Mr. Vallimaresco promised, in reply, to communicate my request to the Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs upon the latter’s anticipated early return to Bucharest.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

I have submitted this preliminary report in such detail to the end that the Department possess, as a matter of record, the essential facts of the controversy as they have come to my attention during the past week. My fear, as yet not seriously grounded, is that we may be observing but the first of a series of already planned steps designed to bring about cancellation of the telephone concession. Mr. Ogilvie deprecates the probability of such an eventuality but adds that out of the present confused situation almost anything may develop.

Respectfully yours,

G. Wadsworth
  1. Neither printed.
  2. Not printed.
  3. King Carol II.