War Trade Board Files: Panama Canal, License Control

The Director of the Bureau of Transportation ( Richards ) to the Acting Chief of the Washington Office of the Panama Canal ( Flint )

Sir: Reply to your letter of November 15, 1917,1 and to the cablegram which your office received on the 10th of November from the Governor of the Panama Canal,1 has been delayed because of the necessity of conferring with another branch of the Government. [Page 1282] We will be pleased if you will inform the Governor of the Panama Canal that:

1.
Vessels under foreign flags which are merely passing through the Panama Canal, and which do not take on bunker fuel, port, sea or ships’ stores or supplies of any kind, may be allowed to pass through without conditions attached thereto. Vessels which take on bunker fuel or port, sea or ships’ stores or supplies of any kind, at the Canal (including water for drinking or other purpose), shall be required to obtain licenses for what is taken aboard.
2.
Reasonable quantities of bunker fuel and ships’ stores may be granted to ships of the regular Spanish line from Barcelona, Spain, via Cuba and Porto Rico, calling regularly at Cristobal and returning to Barcelona, Spain, via Atlantic coast ports of Colombia and Venezuela. In all instances of Spanish boats, however, please cable us at once and give us full advices regarding such boats and their movements.
3.
Sailing vessels plying between Canal Zone ports and Central and South American countries, may be granted reasonable quantities of ships’ stores and supplies, provided the owners or agents of the vessels file guarantee that the vessels—
(a)
Will return to the Canal Zone; or
(b)
Will return to a port of the United States, and will in no case make voyage to ports included in the war zone.
4.
Neutral vessels chartered by American firms plying between South and Central American ports via the Canal, may be granted licenses for bunker fuel and stores, provided the Canal authorities receive satisfactory guarantee that the vessels in question will be restricted to the designated trade.
5.
Vessels of Chilean and Peruvian lines plying between the west-coast ports of South America and the Canal Zone, carrying cargo north for the United States, and cargo south from the United States, may be granted licenses for reasonable quantities of bunker fuel and ships’ stores, provided the cargo carried by these vessels consists solely, or mainly, of cargo of the United States or the Allies.
6.
The Governor of Panama will please make weekly reports to the Bureau of Transportation, War Trade Board, Washington, D. C, of bunker and stores licenses that he issues.

Respectfully yours,

[
L. L. Richards
]
  1. Not printed.
  2. Not printed.