File No. 763.72111/4587
The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury ( Peters) to the Assistant Secretary of State ( Phillips)
[Received February 13.]
My Dear Mr. Phillips: Your favor of the 10th instant is at hand, stating that the Secretaries of the British and French Embassies called upon you and requested that steps be taken so that the publication of manifests of ships sailing from the United States for Allied countries be discontinued, and asking if it is possible to take any steps looking to a discontinuance of this practice.
The collection of statistics requires the publication of totals of goods exported. There seems to be no reason, however, why publication of the manifests of individual vessels should be made, and under the circumstances such publication seems undesirable. I have given instructions that the practice of publication of manifests of particular vessels, where it exists, be discontinued, and that publication of export figures be given only by total articles and by countries.
Very truly yours,