811.24 Raw Materials/67
Statement Issued by the Department of State, April 10, 1939, Regarding the Proposal for the Exchange of Raw Materials Announced by Senator James F. Byrnes10
The project, as understood at the Department of State, is that the Department should undertake to find out whether certain other governments would be willing to enter into an exchange with this Government of certain raw materials reciprocally desired for emergency stock purposes and for such purposes only. From the American point of view, it would be most useful for us to acquire for long-term storage reserve stocks of certain materials not produced within the United [Page 851] States or produced only in limited quantities under very disadvantageous circumstances. Various executive departments have strongly indicated this policy in their support of the several bills now before Congress for acquiring such reserve stocks by purchase. It is our sincere hope that this legislation will be passed.
The appropriations available under such legislation, however, will not be sufficient to make possible the acquisition of adequate supplies. Therefore, if it proves to be possible to secure some of these supplies by direct exchange for some of our surplus wheat and cotton which other governments might wish to store for emergencies, such interchange ought to be mutually beneficial. Such arrangements would fall completely outside of the sphere of ordinary commercial interchange and would not affect the sphere of operation of the trade agreements program or any of our other general policies.
If the President so desires, discussions of the type referred to by Senator Byrnes would be undertaken as soon as a convenient and suitable opportunity presented itself. If any agreements were reached, presumably they would be embodied in treaties to be submitted to the Congress.
- On April 10, 1939, Senator Byrnes announced to the press the offer to be made by the United States to the United Kingdom, Belgium, and the Netherlands to exchange surplus cotton and wheat for rubber and tin: New York Times, April 11, 1939, p. 1, col. 2. For correspondence with the countries concerned, see vol. ii .↩