File No. 659.119/263b

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

[Telegram]

6974. For Sheldon [from War Trade Board]:

No. 229. The Danish Minister delivered the following note verbale to Secretary of State on afternoon of March 18:

With regard to the possibility that the Government of the United States, contrary to what the Danish Government expects and hopes, should have contemplated [requisitioning] the Danish ships now in American ports, the Danish Minister has been directed to make the following statements to the Honorable the Secretary of State:

1. In view of the reply sent to the Government of the Netherlands and published in the press to the effect that Dutch ships would be requisitioned unless voluntarily chartered also for use in the danger zone, the Danish Government wishes to point out that the situation in this respect in Denmark is not the same as in Holland, and that consequently the same procedure would not be called for in the case of Denmark. The attention is called to the following differences:

(a)
The Danish Government has not forbidden Danish ships to sail in the danger zone, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs has on the contrary suggested to the shipowners, agreeably to the [Page 1324] wishes of the Allied Powers, to resume the navigation in spite of the unrestricted German submarine war from February 1, 1917, of which suggestion the British Government declared their appreciation.
(b)
Denmark has during the war and also since February 1, 1917, continued to export to the Allies at reasonable prices, and the present decrease of this export is due to lack of foodstuffs and not to lack of good will on the part of Danish agriculture.
(c)
Danish shipowners have not kept the Danish tonnage in Danish ports; practically speaking, the whole of the Danish tonnage is in ports of the Allies or of the United States.
(d)
Denmark has not as Holland a tonnage of barges which could be offered as a compensation to Germany.

2. The reply (or ultimatum) of the American Government to Holland, and especially the publication of this reply, has to a very great extent rendered the position of Denmark more difficult as furnishing desired material for the agitation of the Pan-Germans and of the German press. Our position in relation to the direction of foreign affairs in Germany has also thereby been rendered more difficult, because a tacit acquiescence by the German Government in a condition which the neutrals were unable to avoid is made vastly more difficult when the question is discussed openly in the press and the passions of the people and the press have thereby become excited.

3. The Danish Government therefore ventures to hope that the Government of the United States will not prejudice the situation of Denmark by taking the same measures in our case as in the case of Holland, and especially by giving publicity to their intentions.

4. As the Danish law forbids Danish shipowners to time-charter their ships without the consent of the Government, the Danish Government has approved that Director Anderson, of the East-Asiatic Company, Ltd., on his own behalf and on behalf of Director Cold, of the United Steamship Company, called on the American Chargé d’Affaires at Copenhagen and, with the understanding that the Government of the United States accept in principle the other counterproposals made in the note of the Danish Government of February 13, and that the whole question be treated in absolute secrecy, offered to make one-third of the tonnage to be chartered to the United States available for sailing in the danger zone.

After conference with British and French, please cable whether you and they deem a general agreement advisable at this time.

Lansing