File No. 763.72114/3365
The Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister ( Sulzer)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of February 13, 1918, in which you requested that instructions be issued whereby in the future representatives of the Legation in conducting inspections of war prison camps might have the privilege of speaking to the prisoners without witnesses.
In reply, I have the honor to inform you that in view of the statements contained in the enclosures to your note, the Government of the United States is willing to grant to the representatives of the Legation the privilege of conversing with German prisoners of war without the presence of witnesses. The War Department has revoked its previous instructions forbidding the privilege of unwitnessed conversation with German prisoners by representatives of the Swiss Legation.
Accept [etc.]