File No. 841.711/751

The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Page ) to the Secretary of State

[Telegram]

4599. I have received following note from Foreign Office:

July 20, 1916.

On May 24 the Secretary of State handed to the British and French Ambas3sadors at Washington a note regarding the examination of mails on neutral ships by the Allied Governments.

I have now the honour to transmit to your excellency for the information of the Government of the United States a memorandum examining certain specific allegations made in paragraph 8 of that note.

As stated in the enclosed memorandum, this communication is not to be regarded as a reply to the various arguments put forward by the United States Government. These are being carefully considered by the several Allied Governments in consultation. The present communication is merely intended to dispose of certain statements made with special reference to the conduct of the censorship by His Majesty’s Government.

Unless your excellency has any objection, I propose to publish this memorandum on July 24.

I have [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
Eyre A. Crowe

Memorandum

The reply of the Allied Governments to the note addressed by the Secretary of State of the United States to His Majesty’s Ambassador at Washington on May 24 regarding the examination of mails on neutral ships will be communicated to the Government of the United States as soon as the arguments contained in that note have been fully considered by the Allied Governments in consultation. Since, however, the note contains in paragraph 8 certain specific instances affecting the conduct of the work of examination by the British censorship, His Majesty’s Government desire to deal with these instances in advance and in detail.

In that paragraph allusion is made to a large number of complaints of which no particulars are given. Only four specific instances of these complaints are cited and they are put forward in a form which in the absence of any of the details which His Majesty’s Government have repeatedly asked for as necessary to identify and trace the occurrences complained of makes it difficult to investigate them. The following facts have, however, been ascertained in regard to them.

MacNiff Horticultural Company, New York. It is stated that the shipping documents relating to perishable goods for this firm were removed from the Nieuw Amsterdam, Oosterdijk, and Rotterdam. The mails on these three ships were removed for examination on February 10, February 17, and February 25 respectively. The mails from the Nieuw Amsterdam were forwarded again, part by the Cedric on February 17, and part by the Lapland on February 25; the mails on the Oosterdijk were forwarded by the Lapland on February 25; the mails from the Rotterdam were forwarded part by the Cameronia sailing March 4 and part by the Cedric sailing March 8. It was not until March 22 that a note was received from the United States Ambassador enclosing a copy of a letter from the MacNiff Horticultural Company and stating that the company anticipated difficulties of this kind in regard to their shipments, the first of Which was due to arrive about the beginning of March. The possibility of preventing such losses to neutrals was considered by. His Majesty’s Government immediately on receipt of the Ambassador’ note, and on April 14 a reply was sent to his excellency offering to place a special censorship staff at ports of call in order to examine separate mail bags labelled “shipping documents” and to reforward such documents by the same ship without unloading them with [Page 614] the rest of the mail. It will therefore be seen that when specific complaints of this kind are made action has been taken immediately to prevent damage to neutral interests and the loss sustained by the MacNiff Horticultural Company which His Majesty’s Government much regret was due to the specific complaint not having reached His Majesty’s Government in time to enable them to apply the new system to this firm’s shipments.

The Standard Underground Cable Company, Pittsburg. The Government of the United States appear to insinuate that the delay on this company’s mail to Christiania was directly connected with the fact that a British competitor obtained a contract for which that company had been tendering. His Majesty’s Government are astonished that such an insinuation should be made. They are the more surprised at it as the complaint from the Underground Cable Company clearly appears not even to have been adequately examined. The contracts alluded to are presumably those recently made by the Christiania Municipal Electric Works. Out of seven contracts placed by these works of which His Majesty’s Government have record, five were allowed to American firms and only two to British firms, and in spite of the extremely dangerous nature of consignments of copper to Bcandinavia, in view of the German attempts to obtain that article through contiguous countries, His Majesty’s Government went out of their way to take all possible steps to facilitate the despatch from the United States to Norway of the goods necessary, to execute the American contracts including 205,000 kilograms of electrolytic copper wire, 10,800 kilograms of electrolytic copper, 12,000 kilograms of copper tubes, and 10,800 kilograms of copper sheets and bars. Of the two orders placed with British firms one small one was placed on February 2, 1916, and the other for a larger amount on April 8, 1916. In this latter case the call for tenders was issued on February 14, the date specified for closing being noon on March 30, and the British firm tendered on March 17. As the first direct inward-bound mails from the United States for Scandinavia on ships passing round the north of Scotland removed for examination by the British censorship were those on the Hellig Olav, which called at Kirkwall on March 28, it is difficult to understand the assertion made by the United States Government that owing to the detention by the British censorship of the Standard Underground Cable Company’s [tender, the contract was] awarded to a British competitor, and in the absence of further details it can only be concluded that the American company’s tender never passed through the hands of the British censor or that it related to a contract which was not awarded to a British firm.

Money-order lists. This complaint must be left for consideration in the final reply of the Allied Governments as it involves questions of principle on which consultation between those Governments is still in progress.

Mails from the “Medan” The facts stated in the United States note are correct except that it is not made clear, though it is the fact, that the neutral mail bags removed from the Medan were all sent on by February 12 and that the 182 bags lost in the Mecklenburg were without exception for enemy destination. American trade or correspondence with neutral countries was therefore not affected by the loss of the Mecklenburg, and the loss of the mails destined for enemy countries was due to the illegal sowing of mines with no military object by the enemy themselves.

It will be seen that these specific complaints do not support the general charges against the efficiency of the British censorship which the Government of the United States have put forward in their note. His Majesty’s Government will always be ready to explan in detail the working of the censorship as there is nothing in regard to it which they desire to conceal. His Majesty’s Government desire to emphasize most strongly the fact that they have had many instances of complaints against their censorship which on examination proved to arise from the wrong direction of letters, the irregular sailings of neutral mail boats such as the Dutch boats during the week following the sinking of the Tubantia, and from other similar causes entirely outside the control of His Majesty’s Government and often directly due to the action of their enemies. They are obliged, therefore, to disclaim responsibility for occurrences complained of until they have first been given the opportunity of investigating such occurrences in detail.

July 20.

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