File No. 763.72112/2144a
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury (McAdoo)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that on November 25, 1915, the American Ambassador at London telegraphed the Department that he is in receipt of assurances from the Foreign Office that the “British Government agree for the present not to interfere with cargoes of tobacco shipped to neutral consignees and state that in these circumstances tobacco in all its forms destined for Holland will no longer be required to be consigned to the Netherlands Oversea Trust,”
The British Embassy at this capital subsequently informed the foreign trade advisers of this Department that it is feared by the British Government that other goods, such as rubber, may be shipped concealed in the bales or hogsheads in which this tobacco is shipped. In order that the present facilities with reference to the uninterrupted shipment of tobacco to neutral European countries without regard to ultimate destination may not be lost to American tobacco exporters, this Department will be glad to know whether it would be possible for the Treasury Department to provide facilities at the ports where tobacco for Europe is exported, whereby such cargoes of tobacco may be examined by customs officials in order that it may be determined that shipments purporting to consist of tobacco only, do not in fact include rubber or other goods. As this Government does not recognize the British order in council of March 11, 1915, it is believed that the customs officials would have to render this service in the nature of a verification of the manifest of the goods, unofficially, as the agents of the shippers and possibly at their expense. The Treasury Department would then, when requested to do so, be in a position to note on the manifest the fact that the shipment has been examined and found to contain only tobacco.
I am [etc.]