IN RESPONSE TO A SENATE RESOLUTION OF JUNE 1, 1916, A REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE RELATIVE TO THE ATTITUDE OF THE BELLIGERENT GOVERNMENTS OF EUROPE TOWARD THE SHIPMENT OF SUPPLIES AND OTHER NECESSARIES OF LIFE TO THE SUFFERING PEOPLE OF POLAND.

JULY 12, 1916.-Read, referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, and ordered to be printed..

TO THE SENATE:

In response to the resolution adopted by the Senate on May 31 (calendar day, June 1), 1916, requesting the President to furnish information relative to the transportation of relief supplies to Poland, if the furnishing of such information is not incompatible with the public interest, I transmit herewith a report by the Secretary of State on this subject.

The report of the Secretary of State has my approval.

THE WHITE HOUSE,

Washington, July 12, 1916.

WOODROW WILSON.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES.

MAY 31 (calendar day, JUNE 1), 1916.

Resolved, That the President be, and he is hereby, requested to furnish to the Senate information as indicated below, if not incompatible with the public interests. First. What is the present attitude of the belligerent governments concerning the shipment of food supplies and other necessaries of life to the suffering people of Poland? Do the belligerents permit such supplies to be sent without interruption or delay from the United States to Amsterdam or any other neutral port in Europe?

Second. If the belligerent Governments make limitations or conditions or require guaranties from each other, what are the conditions and restrictions, and what are the terms of the guaranties thus required?

Third. What action, if any, have said belligerents taken toward giving the guaranties that may have been required?

Fourth. To what committees or authority in Poland may supplies be forwarded and consigned?

Fifth. To what extent is the actual work of relief in Poland being carried on and under whose supervision and control?

Sixth. What are the facts at the present time as to the shipment, transportation, receipt, and distribution of supplies? Can these proceedings be taken or are they delayed by pending negotiations with the countries involved or either of them? Attest: JAMES M. BAKER, Secretary.

THE PRESIDENT:

The undersigned, the Acting Secretary of State, to whom was referred the resolution adopted by the Senate of the United States on May 31 (calendar day, June 1), 1916, requesting the President to furnish information relative to the transportation of relief supplies to Poland, if the furnishing of such information is not incompatible with the public interest, has the honor to report as follows upon this matter:

On May 22 the department received through the American ambassador at London a printed memorandum from the British foreign office stating the terms upon which the allied Governments would permit and assist in furnishing transportation of supplies for the relief of the civilian population of Poland. (A copy of this memorandum is hereto annexed.)

On May 24 the American ambassador at London notified the department that he had transmitted copies of this memorandum to the American ambassadors at Berlin and Vienna.

The department on May 24 notified the American ambassador at Berlin and the American ambassador at Vienna to deliver to the Governments to which they were respectively accredited a copy of this memorandum and to ascertain their attitude.

On May 31 the department received a cablegram (a copy of which is hereto annexed) from the American ambassador at Berlin, stating the terms of the agreement which he thought Germany would make relative to relief supplies for Poland.

In a supplemental telegram dated June 13 the American ambassador at Berlin reports that the foreign office has stated to him that the conditions proposed in his telegram (received May 31) are entirely acceptable to the German Government.

On June 2 the department quoted by cablegram to the American ambassadors at London, Paris, and Petrograd, the cablegram received May 31 from the American ambassador at Berlin, and instructed them to ascertain and report as to the attitude of the Governments to which they were accredited on the position of the German Government relative to this matter.

On June 20 the department received a cablegram (a copy of which is hereto annexed) from the American ambassador at Petrograd, stating that the Russian Government declined to pass upon the proposed plan before conferring with the allies, but positively objected to 150,000 soldiers being maintained in Poland.

On June 15 the American ambassador at London received a note from the British foreign office (a copy of which is hereto annexed)

replying to the German counterproposals relative to relief work in Poland. On July 5 the department instructed the American ambassador at Berlin by cable to present the substance of this note to the German Government and to attempt to ascertain its attitude. relative thereto.

The department has as yet received no reply to the cablegram sent to the American ambassador at Paris relative to the German counterproposals.

On June 17 the department received a cablegram from the American ambassador at Vienna, in reply to its cablegram of May 24, stating that the Austrian under secretary of foreign affairs had promised to hasten the reply of the military authorities on the whole question of relief in Poland, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania.

On July 7 the department sent an identic cablegram to the American ambassadors to Austria, France, Germany, Great Britain, and Russia, a copy of which is hereto annexed.

It thus appears that both the allies and the central powers have made propositions as to the terms under which relief supplies may be sent to Poland; that there are important differences in the terms of the two proposals; and that the State Department is endeavoring to induce the allies and the central powers to agree upon some plan which will permit the sending of relief supplies to Poland. Respectfully submitted.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE,

Washington, July 10, 1916.

FRANK L. POLK, Acting Secretary of State.

On the 21st of February last the United States ambassador communicated to Sir E, Grey a memorandum embodying the following proposals for affording relief to Poland: "There are approximately 15,000,000 people in the German occupied eastern area. including Russian Poland and western Russia. Of this population between 3,500,000 and 4,000,000 people are concentrated in, or in the immediate neighborhood of, the cities of Warsaw, Lodz, Schenzochow, Vilna, Kovno, and Bella Ettap.

"In order to handle the problem of provision from a practical point of view, and at the same time with proper safeguard as to all the international phases in the matter, the following basis is proposed:

"1. The American commission shall undertake the revictualing of the abovementioned cities only.

"The German Government to undertake to furnish to the cities above mentioned a supply which will cover a ration of—

400 grams of potatoes per diem per capita.

10 grams of salt per diem per capita.

10 grams of sugar per diem per capita.

3 grams of tea per diem per capita.

"The American commission to import cereals to an amount which will afford a ration of 340 grams per diem per capita of wheat, or beans, peas, rice, maize; also with 40 grams of fats per diem per capita, and a moderate amount of condensed milk for children.

"2. That the German Government shall undertake to revictual the whole of the balance of the population in the occupied territory.

"3. The German Government will undertake to devise financial means for the provision of gold exchange abroad to pay for the foodstuffs purchased by the American commission. The allies to give necessary permits for these financial operations by the commission.

"4. The German Government will make the necessary arrangements to turn over to the commission sufficient German shipping to do the entire transportation from North America or other places to Danzig.

"5. The revictualling to last only until the 1st of October, at which time the new harvest will take care of the entire civilian population.

"6. The German Government to undertake that there shall be no interference with the imported foodstuffs; that they will be consumed absolutely by the native civilian population; that the American commission will be furnished every facility for the control of the entire revictualling of the cities in question, including the German contribution to the ration.

"7. In order to carry out the above it will be necessary to import approximately 40,000 tons of foodstuffs per month. It is proposed that such portion of these foodstuffs as go to the well-to-do population should be sold, and in this particular the German Government is prepared to give free railway transport over the occupied areas and one-half railway rates over the German State Railroads. It is proposed to provision the destitute without cost."

His Majesty's Government at once referred the question of principle involved in these proposals to the Russian Government, who have now accepted it. His Majesty's Government are accordingly prepared to agree to the immediate inauguration of the above arrangement, provided that the German and Austro-Hungarian Governments are prepared to give certain assurances. In assenting in principle to the grant of relief to a territory occupied by the enemy, in spite of the statements recently published by the German authorities that they are in reality able to relieve the Polish population unaided, His Majesty's Government feel that they have made a concession in return for which they have a right to demand that their enemies shall now at length place beyond doubt their intentions toward the populations of occupied territories whose treatment by them in the past has been so much at variance with the responsibilities of civilized warfare and the dictates of humanity. The assurances required are as follows:

1. The scheme submitted by the United States ambassador relates only to that part of Russian Poland at present in the occupation of the German forces. His Majesty's Government consider it essential that any system of Polish relief should apply to Russian Poland as a whole, and they can not recognize the existing division into two spheres, occupied respectively by German and Austro-Hungarian troops. There must be a definite undertaking by the two governments that the export from the whole of Russian Poland of all foodstuffs, native or imported, will be absolutely prohibited, and that any excess over domestic needs which may exist in the southern part under Austrian administration (which is understood to be self-supporting) will be employed exclusively for the provisioning of northern Poland, whether such foodstuffs are utilized to supply the towns under the care of the relief commission or the country districts to be revictualed by the German Government.

2. It is understood from a document which has been communicated to His Majesty's Government by Mr. Walcott, of the Rockefeller Foundation, and of which a copy is annexed to this memorandum, that the German authorities in northern Poland undertake that all food supplies originating in Poland shall be used exclusively for the civil population and the constabulary. His Majesty's Government can not admit that the constabulary should be allowed to use native foodstuffs which have subsequently to be replaced by supplies imported by the relief commission. They must therefore request that in this respect the constabulary should be placed on the same footing as the occupying army.

3. From the same document it appears that the German authorities wish to export from Poland any excess of the potato supply. As a result of the experience which they have gained in connection with Belgian relief, His Majesty's Government are most reluctant to agree to the exportation from Russian Poland of so-called excess supplies, since the question of what constitutes an excess is largely a matter of opinion. Nevertheless, in order not to prolong the negotiations, His Majesty's Government agree to the export of potatoes at such times and so long as, in the opinion of the neutral relief authorities, an excess supply in fact exists over and above the requirements of the whole of Russian Poland.

4. The German vessels mentioned under paragraph 4 of Mr. Page's proposal must fly a neutral flag, be under the sole control of a neutral body to be agreed upon, be manned by neutrals, and be run entirely at the expense of the German authorities. 5. It should be understood that the responsibility of the German Government is not ended by the supply of the partial ration mentioned in the above scheme of relief. His Majesty's Government can not undertake to allow the relief commission to import more than a minimum supplementary ration over and above the maximum which the enemy are in a position to supply at any given time.

6. The neutral relief authorities in Poland must enjoy absolutely free and unfettered facilities for the communication to their London office of any data connected with their work. They must have every facility to satisfy themselves of the manner