From Department of State
The Secretary September 1 1941
 
The President
                      In accordance with your instructions I am submitting the proposed draft of a reply
to Queen Wilhelmina. If you approve the message can be sent by telegraph to London in the
following form:
                              September 1, 1941.
 
American Embassy,
London.
 
For Ambassador Biddle.
 
           Please deliver at earliest moment the following message from the President to Queen
Wilhelmina:
 
           "Your Majesty's gracious letter is appreciated and I regret sincerely that matters of state 
 
prevent your visit to Hyde Park at this time. Mrs. Roosevelt and I cannot be but deeply 
 
disappointed but trust that your visit is only delayed.
 
           "Your heavy responsibilities are fully appreciated yet since I may, not have the pleasure, of 
 
welcoming you to Hyde Park now, I venture to raise in this message a matter of great mutual 
 
concern to your country and mine.
 
     "This country secures from the Bauxite mines in Surinam
 
two million tons of ore annually or 65 per cent of our total supply and if this supply were 
 
interrupted in any way it would most seriously delay the production of aircraft which are so 
 
urgently needed by all nations resisting aggression.
 
           "The information reaching me indicates that the Bauxite instalations in Surinam are at 
 
present inadequately protected and could be destroyed either by sabotage or by raiders 
 
approaching fror: land, sea, or air. In addition the transportation of the ore could be interrupted 
 
by sinking ships in the river approaches to the mines since these are the only avenues of egress for 
 
the ore.
 
     The situation is so grave that I turn to you direct in order
 
that a way may be found for you and your Government to devise further means of protection. If 
 
you approve, I should be prepared, having in mind the Havana proceedure, to make arrangements 
 
for the immediate entry of several United States troops into Surinam to remove the threat to this 
 
source of critical raw material. If this form of protection is agreed, I and any American associates 
 
will of course give you my formal assurance that occupation by Linerican troops would be a 
 
temporary measure for the period of the emergency only and that they will be withdrawn as soon 
 
as the threat of damage to these vital mines is removed. The military forces involved will  
 
approximate a battalion of infantry, a battery of antiaircraft artillery together with the necessary 
 
aircraft and service troops. The total force should not exceed three thousand
 
officers and men. They would be accompanied by suitable vessels to patrol
 
the river approaches to the minos.