File No. 165.102/907
[Enclosure]
The British Secretary of State for Foreign
Affairs (Grey) to
the American Ambassador (Page)
No. 47797/C
London,
March 22, 1916
.
Your Excellency: With reference to the
memorandum which your excellency was good enough to communicate
to this Department on the 7th instant relative to the shipment
of German cyanide to the United States of America, your
excellency will doubtless remember, as I had the honour to
inform your excellency in my note of the 8th instant, that this
matter has already formed the subject of communications to the
State Department through His Majesty’s Ambassador in
Washington.
From the information at the disposal of His Majesty’s Government
they are led to believe that the shortage of cyanide in the
United States of America, and the demand for its importation
into that country from Germany, is
[Page 566]
artificially created by the
Roessler-Hasslacher Company with the object of keeping in German
hands the interest of supplying the United States of America
with cyanide, of engineering an agitation against His Majesty’s
Government, and of creating credits for Germany in the United
States.
The Gold and Silver Refinery at Frankfort on the Main was
formerly the Roessler Aktiengesellschaft of Frankfort, and two
members of the present Frankfort concern, Franz Roessler and
Paul Mausolff, are respectively vice
president and secretary of the Roessler-Hasslacher Company in
the United States. Half of the stock of the latter company, is,
I am informed, owned in Germany.
Before the war the United Kingdom depended largely on Germany for
supplies of cyanide, but now the supply is being derived from
domestic factories in this country. There would appear to be no
reasons why the requirements of the United States should not be
met from local supplies, as it is reported that the largest part
of the plant for producing cyanide at Perth Amboy, New Jersey,
is still in existence.
I need hardly say that His Majesty’s Government would view with
the greatest regret any injury done to the United States mining
or textile industries, but they are unaware to what extent this
could happen except by deliberate intrigues on the part of the
Roessler and Hasslacher Company.
I would add that this firm originally put forward their
application for permission to import the cyanide on the ground
that the goods had been ordered before March 1, 1915, and that
they were under an obligation to pay for them whether received
or not. As soon as this application was refused, the company
cancelled the order, thereby showing that there was no binding
contract and that they were under no obligation to pay for the
cyanide stated to have been ordered. This fact, coupled with the
German complexion of the applicants, has naturally led His
Majesty’s Government to accept the company’s statements with
considerable hesitation and has caused the whole agitation to
appear suspect.
In the final paragraph of the memorandum under reply, your
excellency stated that His Majesty’s Ambassador in Washington
had assured the Secretary of Commerce that applications would be
granted by His Majesty’s Government for goods that were
necessary to American industries. The only assurance of the kind
on the part of His Majesty’s Government which I have been able
to trace is that contained in paragraph 16 of the note which I
had the honour to address to your excellency on June 17 last,
but your excellency will notice that that assurance refers only
to goods proved to have been paid for before March 1, 1915. In
the light of subsequent concessions made by His Majesty’s
Government it might be assumed that this assurance extended to
goods ordered prior to that date, for which a legal obligation
to pay on delivery at the factory is involved. The application
of the Roessler and Hasslacher Company, however, refers to goods
which do not comply with either of the above conditions.
I have already instructed His Majesty’s Ambassador in Washington
by telegraph to explain to the Secretary of State the above
points.
I have [etc.]
For the Secretary of State:
M. de Bunsen
