File No. 763.72112/9
The Insurance Company of North
America to the Secretary of
State
Philadelphia,
August 3, 1914.
Dear Sir: This company is, and has been,
for more than a century, engaged in writing marine insurance on
imports to and exports from the United States, and owing to the
present condition of warfare now existing in Europe, we would ask
you for advices on the following points:
Any information which your Department may be in a position to give us
as to what is regarded as actual contraband of war; what kind of
merchandise is regarded as conditional contraband; what kind of
merchandise is not liable to seizure at all.
Any information which your Department may be able to give us
regarding rights of belligerents to capture neutral property; what
property may be considered to be neutral, and when such property
ceases to become neutral; in fact, any information that your
Department can give us, which will enable us to properly compute
rates of marine insurance against risks of war, will be of great
advantage, not only to us, but to thousands of importers and
exporters in the United States, who depend on us for protection
against the risks incident to capture and detention.
Yours [etc.]
[Page 273]
The Secretary of
State to the Insurance
Company of North America
Department of State,
Washington
,
August 7, 1914.
Gentlemen: The Department acknowledges
the receipt of your letter of the 3d instant in which you ask to
be informed by the Department “as to what is regarded as actual
contraband of war, what kind of merchandise is provisional
contraband, and what kind is not liable to seizure at all.” This
and the other information solicited in your letter you state is
to enable your company to compute properly rates of marine
insurance against the risks of war.
The Department appreciates the importance of the subject, in view
of the state of war which exists between certain of the European
governments and the effect of the European disturbances upon
American commerce, but the Department believes that you will,
upon second thought, agree with it that it is not advisable or
judicious for the Department to attempt to furnish you with a
statement of the rules of international law on the several
points submitted in your letter, upon which statement by the
Department your rates of insurance are presumably to be based.
The questions of contraband of war and maritime commerce during
a state of war are subject to so many qualifications and
exceptions that the Department thinks you had best consult
private counsel, who will be able to find the matter discussed
at length in many of the standard works on international law,
which works, if not available in the private libraries of
counsel, will doubtless be found in any large public
library.
I am [etc.]
For the Secretary of State:
Robert Lansing
Counselor
