841.711/3134
The Department of State to the British Embassy 2
Aide-Mémoire
In view of the difficulties and inconveniences which are now being experienced by American firms due to delays in transmitting shipping documents to and from Europe, the American Government has been giving consideration to possible ways and means of obviating such delays. During the World War the British Government proposed that if the United States postal administration would consent to dispatch in special bags marked “shipping documents” bills of lading, invoices, et cetera, referring to cargo in the ship by which the documents in question were dispatched, arrangements would be made for the rapid examination of the contents of these bags by one or two officers of the censorship at the ports of call and for the forwarding of such documents by the same ship.3 As a result of this proposal special pouches were used for forwarding shipping papers from the United States to Europe and from certain European countries to the United States. It is believed that this arrangement proved helpful in the delivery of shipping documents and certain American firms are now asking that a similar arrangement be introduced at the present time.
The American Government, without prejudice to the general position which it has already taken with respect to the interference with its mails by the British Government, would consent to the dispatch of shipping documents in special pouches on the understanding that the Government of Great Britain would provide for a rapid examination of the contents of these pouches by censorship officials and for forwarding of such documents without delay.
Many of the complaints received from American firms relate to delays in the receipt of shipping documents originating in the United Kingdom. It is obviously in the interest of both countries to eliminate all avoidable delays and it is hoped that the British Government may also give attention to this problem.
- A similar aide-mémoire was presented to the French Embassy on the same day, but no reply has been found in Department files.↩
- See telegram No. 4162, April 15, 1916, from the Ambassador in Great Britain, Foreign Relations, 1916, supp., p. 603.↩