File No. 300.115/3752
[Enclosure 1]
The American Ambassador (
Page
) to the British
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (
Grey
)
The American Ambassador presents his compliments to His Majesty’s
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and has the honor to
invite Sir Edward Grey’s
attention to the following matter:
For some years past the planting and cultivation of beets to be
used in the-manufacture of sugar has been largely undertaken,
with a very considerable degree of success, in a number of
states of the United States, notably in Arizona, California,
Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah, and, with the success of growing
this vegetable, the beet-sugar industry has assumed large
proportions. For the year 1911 it is found that 1,238,280,000
pounds of beet sugar was produced in the United States, which in
value amounted to $23,895,781, and since these statistics were
compiled there has been a constant increase in the
production.
Since the commencement of the beet-sugar industry in the United
States, the growers have been practically entirely dependent
upon beet seeds which are specially grown in Germany for this
trade, as it appears that this is a separate branch of the
industry, and that a different form of cultivation must be
undertaken to produce a seed and not a bulb, and that the
American producers have never undertaken to grow seeds since the
seed industry had long been established in Germany.
The beet growers in America are in great need of beet seeds in
order to plant their next year’s crops, and are very desirous
that they may be able to obtain from Germany to the United
States certain cargoes of seeds.
In view of the great importance of this matter, and the number of
persons and the extent to which the industry would be affected
by a total suspension of the regular supply of beet seeds, Mr.
Page ventures to inquire of Sir Edward Grey as to what
would be the disposition of His Majesty’s Government in regard
to issuing such instructions as would appear to be necessary in
the case, in order that certain shipments of these seeds might
proceed from Germany to the United States without hindrance on
the part of His Majesty’s naval authorities.
London
,
April 20, 1915
.
[Enclosure 2]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (
Grey
) to
the American Ambassador (
Page
)
No. 59196/15]
Your Excellency: I have had under my
consideration the memorandum which your excellency was good
enough to communicate to this Department on the 20th ultimo
requesting that certain consignments of beet seeds of German
origin might be permitted to proceed to the United States from
Germany without interference by His Majesty’s Government.
[Page 248]
I have now the honour to state that, although His Majesty’s
Government cannot give any general undertaking as regards the
shipment of German beet seed to the United States, they will be
willing, on the understanding that beet seeds are not procurable
elsewhere than in Germany, to give an undertaking against
interference in regard to particular consignments, the case of
each shipment being considered on its merits. Such permission
would of course be conditional on there being no question of the
exchange of commodities with Germany, and on the seeds being
shipped from a neutral port such as Rotterdam.
I have [etc.]
For the Secretary of State:
A. Law