File No. 763.72112/1003
The British Ambassador (Spring Rice) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 13.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: With further reference to your letter of the 20th of March1 I am informed that the interpretation of lubricants, now absolute contraband, is as follows:
Mineral: Including mineral oils, jellies or greases of all kinds, pure or compounded; graphite, natural or artificial;
Vegetable: Including vegetable lubricating oils and fats of all kinds, and resin greases, and their mixtures;
Animal: Including all animal oils and fats for use as lubricants, and their mixtures;
Fish: Including whale oil (train, blubber, sperm), seal or shark oil, and fish oil generally.
Mixtures or compounds of any of the foregoing.
It will be observed that the above definition covers all the articles mentioned in the earlier list of lubricants sent to your Department on March 10 and that it is even more comprehensive, inasmuch as it includes mixtures and compounds of these articles.
The whole of the “hides” heading (Article 12) in the conditional list of December 23, 1914, may be regarded as transferred to the list of absolute contraband. Harness and saddlery (Article 11) remains conditional contraband unless it falls within Article 10 of the absolute list of December 23.
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩