Shipments of Copper

[The placing of “unwrought copper” on the list of absolute contraband, in the British proclamation of October 29, called forth a great volume of protests from American interests urging the Government toward action in their behalf. These protests reached the Department from governors and senators, more than a score of chambers of commerce and other organizations, besides numerous firms and individuals, in all the western mining states and some districts of the East. The Department did not contest the classification adopted by the British Government, though it sought a more precise definition, but directed its efforts mainly against interference with copper cargoes consigned to neutral countries. Correspondence relating to these efforts is to be found below in the section on “Interference by belligerent governments with neutral ships and cargoes.”]