[Released June 3, 1931. Dated June 2, 1931]
I AM NOW ABLE to inform you that informal discussions among nations some of whose participation is vitally necessary develop the fact that they do not consider this a proper time to call an international conference on silver and would oppose holding such a conference now.
HERBERT HOOVER
[The Honorable Reed Smoot, Salt Lake City, Utah]
Note: The silver industry and Congressmen from silver-producing States inaugurated a movement for a silver stabilization agreement. In February 1931, the Senate passed the Pittman resolution (S. Res. 442) urging the President to undertake international negotiations, and the State Department subsequently sounded out the British and the Japanese.
Herbert Hoover, Telegram to Senator Reed Smoot About an International Conference on Silver. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/211034