811.711/33a
The Secretary of State to President Wilson
My Dear Mr. President: As the existence of a state of war makes it essential for the public safety that no communication of a character [Page 12] which would aid the enemy or its allies should be permitted I wish to lay before you the great necessity of preparing some plan for the censorship of postal correspondence.15 I understand that at the present time there is no bar to sending by mail from the United States communications, plain or in cipher, from Germans or German agents here, to Germans in Mexico or other neutral countries for their information and transmission by various means to Germany and her allies. The dangers to the country inherent in this form of communication, are obvious—the present channel is open to the transmittal of military information, transferrence of money and credit, and manipulation of intrigues, etc. I enclose a copy of a memorandum of the British Embassy dated April 12th16 pointing out the transference of German securities to the nominal value of $1,250,000, by a letter of Kuhn-Loeb and Company.
In these circumstances I have to suggest that a plan of censorship of postal correspondence should be formulated at the earliest moment—in the first instance by the Post Office Department which is familiar with our postal laws and regulations, and later in cooperation with the State Department and possibly the Department of Justice.
On April 20th I laid the urgency of this matter before the Postmaster General but as I have not as yet received any indication as to the attitude of his Department in the matter and as I regard the matter as of the utmost importance I take the liberty of calling it to your particular attention.
Faithfully yours,
- For correspondence previously printed concerning postal censorship, see Foreign Relations, 1917, supp. 2, vol. ii, pp. 1230 ff.↩
- Not printed.↩