811.24 Raw Materials/1132: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 20—12:48 p.m.]
1753. Upon receipt of your No. 1277, June 19, noon, the situation was discussed with the Colonial Office which made available Hay’s telegram and the proposed reply which was drafted by the Colonial Office after consultation with Miller and Milne and which no doubt will be approved by an interdepartmental committee meeting today. As originally drafted this reply for the most part emphasized the impracticability of acting on Hay’s suggestion without offering a constructive alternative suggestion. But after some discussion the draft was altered to include an offer to take the necessary steps provided the United States guaranteed a minimum price pending the conclusion of the final arrangement; this was designed to overcome the difficulty of rubber exporters being unable or unwilling to ship without some immediate monetary consideration.
[Page 275]The Colonial Office seems well disposed and the Embassy took occasion to emphasize that not only is quick action needed but that for the first time powers are available which permit action and that the traditional inabilities of the past should be put aside.