-2- 1309, April 3, 1941, 9 p.m. (SECTION TW0) from London
 
and war srrvicrs and thr decline in the export trade. War
 
strategy has been so closely related in these last few weeks
 
to allied situations in the Balkans and elsewhere that some
 
flexibility of action in the field of foreign exchange
 
was necessary. It occurred to me that such situations will
 
repeat themselves and other special British situations will
 
arise in which it might be simpler as well as of advantage
 
for a country at war to be able to meet financial contin-
 
gencies rapidly and from its own coffers. In the present
 
circumstances shortage of funds might not only weaken
 
England as a first line of defense but be a sufficient threat
 
to prompt us to find the money to meet a special situation
 
that would be hard to explain to Congress in the time which
 
the emergency allowed and might be particularly embarrassing
 
to handle without Congressional action with the Johnson Act
 
on the statute book. I just do not want you to have to face
 
that sort of headache. These, I realize, are properly
 
Treasury matters and we are handicapped for the moment by
 
the absence of anyone who is kept currently informed of
 
the financial conversations at Washington. I understand
 
from a Department cable that this situation is being given
 
attention.
 
                                            WINANT
 
NPL