File No. 652.119/404a
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain ( Willard )
818. The War Trade Board is now withholding licenses for practically all commodities destined for Spain in accordance with your previous instructions.1 There are more than 2,000 applications now on file for licenses which the Board is withholding, including among others 811 applications for $2,500,000 worth of metals, machinery and instruments, 528 applications for $1,500,000 worth of chemicals, drugs and dyestuffs including explosives, and 270 applications for $2,000,000 worth of food and feed stuffs, and smaller amounts of miscellaneous commodities representing an aggregate value of $6,500,000.
Could you not bring sufficient pressure to bear by the withholding of licenses for only cotton and oil and allow the War Trade Board to grant licenses for all other commodities in accordance with the usual process? The strict embargo on all commodities will be maintained if you think it is necessary but it is felt that you may be able to bring sufficient pressure to bear by withholding only cotton and oil or at least by withholding a more limited number of commodities.
Please advise us immediately with regard to this matter.
- See Department’s telegrams Nos. 769, Dec. 1, 1917, and 812, Jan. 2, 1918, Foreign Relations, 1917, Supplement 2, vol. II, pp. 1216 and 1228–30, respectively.↩