The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury (McAdoo)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Department’s letter of the 9th instant, in which you state that it would be necessary to withdraw the Coast Guard cutter Itasca from San Juan, Porto Rico, which has been assigned there for the purpose of assisting the collector of customs at that port in the enforcement of the neutrality laws, that you will be unable to replace the Itasca by any other cutter, and that the Navy Department has [Page 748] advised you that it cannot detail any naval vessel for that purpose. You add that the Navy Department suggested that the neutrality of the port might be preserved by disabling the engines of all belligerent vessels or maintaining guards on them.
I have the honor to say in reply that in the view of this Department it would be inadvisable to disable the machinery of or place guards upon self-interned German vessels in American ports. The importance of the preservation of the neutrality of the United States needs, of course, no emphasis at the present time, and this Department earnestly hopes that all necessary and proper means to that end will be used. It is presumed your Department has considered the effectiveness of the guns in the fort at San Juan and the restriction of the coal supply in preventing the German steamer President from making an irregular departure from that port, in case the Itasca shall be withdrawn.
I have [etc.]