File No. 195/137
The Italian Ambassador ( Macchi di Cellere ) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 17.]
Mr. Secretary of State: Recent and urgent representations of my Government in regard to the imperative needs of tonnage, force me to appeal to Your Excellency, in order to outline the situation confronting Italy as to the most pressing needs of food and war supplies.
The fact that the wheat crop has not attained the expectation and hopes of my Government, imposes on us—this year—the necessity to import monthly, henceforth, 145,000 tons above the average imported last year.
Moreover, as is already known to Your Excellency, the British Government, owing to the losses sustained up to the present, has been compelled to limit the tonnage allocated to Italy and to declare now, that they can not grant us any more steamers.
Hence, our duty above all else, being to provide food for our population, if immediate relief to our tonnage situation can not be given, we shall be compelled to curtail our imports of British coals, which, as Your Excellency is aware, are now made on a very limited scale and also to reduce to one-half the actual exports of steel from the United States, with grave injury to our war activities.
Your Excellency already knows that our shipping losses through the submarine campaign have been extremely heavy, as nearly about one-half of our transatlantic tonnage has been sunk.
Lately I have submitted to the Shipping Board a memorandum covering our needs in the matter of tonnage and notwithstanding the fact that we have not had tangible results, I have no doubt that it has been given favorable consideration. At that time, the Shipping Board had no means of providing assistance. Now, however, that the American tonnage fitted for transatlantic trade has been requisitioned and—if my reports are correct—that something is in view regarding the disposition of the neutral tonnage standing idle at American ports, I understand that there might be greater facility for the Government of the United States, to grant us such urgent and immediate aid as is demanded by the above mentioned facts.
To make my request more concrete I wish now to state that it is urgently required that a minimum of 100,000 tons monthly of American shipping shall be allocated to Italy for the transportation of wheat and steel and another 50,000 tons monthly for the transportation of coal.
[Page 633]Permit me to hope that the exposition of our situation, which, as Your Excellency has seen, is such that it might affect the most vital interest of Italy and its maximum war efficiency for the common cause, will find in you, strong and sympathetic support. Let me hope also that this earnest appeal that I have the honor to make to your Government in the name of mine, may be granted through your authoritative intervention.
I shall not fail to submit to the Shipping Board and to the Food Administration the data concerning our minimum requirements, but I trust also that taking into consideration the political importance of my request, which is self-evident, you will support and strongly recommend it to the prompt attention of the above said departments.
If Your Excellency will kindly give me assurance in this respect, I shall be deeply grateful because thus it would allow me to assure my Government, which is anxiously waiting my reply.
Meanwhile, thanking you in advance, I have [etc.]