Office of the Historian

File No. 656.119/122

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

[Telegram]
Washington, January 10, 1918, 4 p.m.

6210. Following for Sheldon from War Trade Board:

Your 8161 through Department, concerning discontinuance of navicerts. Now that London office is organized and you have settled satisfactorily question of using facilities of Embassy for cables, we are prepared to proceed with elimination of navicerts for shipments to Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, Faroe Islands and Iceland upon general plan suggested in your cable No. 34 of December 42 and Frothingham’s letters of October 171 to Richards, and Frothingham’s [Page 940] memorandum for McCormick of November 17,1 with only those modifications noted in detail below, and put same into effect on February 1. State Department will cable Embassy, London, to make informal representation to British Government in accordance Frothingham’s cable No. 34.

The operation will be as follows:

1.
War Trade Board, Washington, will cable daily to our representative in London the particulars of all license applications covering shipments to countries above mentioned, excluding those refused here by our War Trade Intelligence or for reasons of conservation. The particulars cabled will be: (1) application number, which, if license granted, will be license number; (2) shipper’s name; (3) quantity; (4) commodity; (5) net weight; (6) consignee; (7) consignee’s address; and (8) purchaser, if different from consignee.
2.
Our representative in London will present foregoing particulars to British War Trade Intelligence and British War Trade Statistical Department.
3.
British War Trade Intelligence will report evidence as to consignee.
4.
British War Trade Statistical Department will report as to advisability of issuing license so far as concerns quantities previously licensed and total rationed quantity.
5.
British Contraband Committee, together with our representative in London, will then consider evidence submitted and record their opinion with him as to approval or disapproval of applications in question.
6.
Our representative in London will then cable War Trade Board, Washington, the findings of Contraband Committee, with which findings it will be assumed our representative in London agrees, unless otherwise stated. Should our representative in London not agree with opinion of Contraband Committee, reasons for disagreement will be cabled to Washington. If joint opinion is disapproval, reasons should be cabled as per code hereafter suggested.
7.
War Trade Board at Washington, on receipt of reports from our representative in London, will then decide whether licenses shall be granted or refused, after considering findings of Contraband Committee and any other recommendations from London. If War Trade Board, Washington, agrees with London, no further word will be sent to London, who may therefore assume recommendation from London has been followed. If War Trade Board decides to issue or refuse license contrary to recommendation from London, they will advise London weekly of action taken.
8.
All these routine messages dealing with export applications will be numbered serially. …2

It is important that we are in accord in every detail of this arrangement and you should immediately confirm this cable, stating [Page 941] that you are prepared to put this system into operation on February 1 as above.

Referring to calls at Halifax, we have for several weeks been searching all vessels bound for Scandinavia and Holland through our Navy Department; and arrangements are being completed for elimination of calls at Halifax, which elimination we will insist upon.

Please send all communications from you or your staff to us through State Department. We have made arrangements to expedite deliveries.

Lansing
  1. Foreign Relations, 1917, Supplement 2, vol. II, p. 995.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. Not printed.↩
  4. Description of code to be used in these messages omitted.↩