File No. 652.119/818
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain ( Willard)
1101. Embassy’s 1301, May 4, 1 p.m.; 1302, May 4, 8 p.m.;1 and 1303, May 4, 10 p.m.1 The Department and the War Trade Board have considered the views expressed in the above-mentioned cablegrams and in accordance with your recommendation it has been determined that this Government will extend the provisions of article 13 of the commercial agreement of March 7, 1918, for an additional period of 31 days; that is, General Rules No. 1 governing the granting of licenses for bunkers2 will not be applied to Spanish vessels during the period ending June 8, 1918, during which period the present regulations will remain in force.
As requested in Embassy’s 1302 (No. 50 from Chadbourne to War Trade Board) the Department has not communicated this decision to the Spanish Ambassador in Washington and you should immediately notify the Foreign Office of the 31-day extension of article 13. At the same time you should state that every effort is being made by this Government to expedite the institution of the tonnage negotiations and that it is fully expected that within the next day or two the United States shipping expert will proceed to Madrid with full instructions.