File No. 763.72112/1364
The Consul General at London (Skinner) to the Secretary of State
No. 592]
London,
July 9, 1915.
[Received July 20.]
Sir: Referring to the Department’s cabled
instruction of June 28 and my reply of June 29,1 I have the honor to call particular attention
to my monthly trade report which is annexed hereto, in triplicate.
In this report will be found: (1) Some very interesting figures
showing the great increase in exports from this country in certain
lines;2 and (2) a full list of the ships
detained at Kirkwall from March 11 to June 17, together with the
period of detention in each case.3
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure]
Monthly trade report by the Consul General at
London, July 8, 1915
The following figures taken from official British trade returns
covering the first half of 1915 and 1914, illustrate very
clearly the practical effect of war legislation upon foreign
trade, and especially foreign trade in which the United States
is interested. It will be perceived that while the articles
under report cannot be shipped from the United States to neutral
European countries without being stopped and rendered liable to
condemnation, these same articles are being exported from Great
Britain itself in enormously increased quantities. Especial
attention is directed to the items of copper, cotton goods, raw
cotton, petroleum, and wool. Perhaps in no commodity of trade
has the British rule been more vexatious than in that of wool.
Exports of raw wool to the United States have been refused
usually, except in such cases when it could be shown that
manufactured woolen goods for the armed forces would be returned
in exchange, and in equivalent quantities. But while raw wool
was being refused on the ground of military necessity, Great
Britain found it entirely possible to export to the United
States well over half her usual quantity of manufactured woolens
and more than the usual quantity of carpets.
The British explanation of these singular facts is that the
exports are in some degree controlled by the various committees
which authorize the granting of licenses to export, and that
only importers of known standing are favored, who can be counted
upon not to sell to enemy countries. The explanation would have
some force if the quantities exported were normal, but inasmuch
as they are wholly abnormal, and as the ease with which the
exports from Great Britain are made is a matter of common
knowledge, it is quite evident that measures designed to protect
the military situation are being [Page 480] utilized to protect and extend British
foreign trade at the expense of other countries. A most curious
fact revealed in the figures is the existence of a decreased but
fairly substantial amount of trade with Turkey.
