File No. 763.72112/2028
The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 18.]
Sir: In reference to statements which have appeared on several occasions in the British press to the effect that arrangements have been concluded between the British Foreign Office and the Merchants Guild of Copenhagen and Danish Chamber of Manufacturers concerning the import into Denmark of certain articles, I have the honor to enclose herewith for the information of the Department a clipping from the London Times of December 2, 1915, setting forth a question asked in the House of Lords as to this agreement, and further a clipping from the London Morning Post of December 7, 1915, reporting certain questions and answers in this connection which were made in the House of Commons on the 6th instant, together with a clipping from the same paper of the same date setting forth an official announcement in regard to this agreement.1
I have been informed confidentially at the Foreign Office in reply to an informal request that I might be furnished with the terms of this agreement, if there were no objection on the part of the British Government, that the details of this arrangement had not been made public and would not be made public for the present, due to the request of the Danish importers, who, I was informed, were apprehensive of the action of Germany should the arrangement be made known. The Foreign Office further stated that the arrangement [Page 289] was practically the same as that concluded with Holland and carried out through the means of the Netherlands Oversea Trust.
I further beg to enclose herewith a copy of a letter addressed to me by Mr. Charles H. Burr, who is well-known to the Department, in which he transmitted what he states are the most important clauses of the above-mentioned arrangement.1 I desire to add that I have not been able to verify this draft agreement which Mr. Burr sent me.
I have [etc.]