The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Page)
Sir: Referring to your cablegram No. 2652 of August 15[19], 1915, in regard to the desire of the Mitchell-Bissell Company to obtain a shipment of porcelain guides of German origin, there is enclosed a copy of a letter from the Mitchell-Bissell Company, in regard to these goods, as well as a statement of the value of the goods that they have not yet obtained and samples of the various porcelain guides, giving a general idea of the character of the guides which they desire to obtain.1 There are perhaps a dozen variations of each of these samples enclosed, each variation differing from the pattern by a small fraction of an inch. The Mitchell-Bissell Company would like to have the copies of the orders enclosed returned to them after the British authorities have finished with them.
The Mitchell-Bissell Company state that it is absolutely impossible for them to obtain these porcelain guides elsewhere than in Germany as they must be made with absolute accuracy and that the [Page 264] variation of a sixteenth of an inch makes the goods incapable of use for the purposes for which they are intended.
You are instructed to submit this additional evidence to the British authorities and inform the Department by cable of any action in the matter.
I am [etc.]
- Not printed.↩