File No. No. 763.72112/4993
The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador ( Spring Rice)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: In reply to your confidential letter of October 1, I hasten to inform you that although this Department had previously granted provisional authority to certain firms and charitable organizations to send money, subject to the observance of certain conditions and limitations, to enemy-occupied territory, these authorizations have now, through the provisions of the so-called Trading with the Enemy Act, automatically become nullified and no such funds can be transmitted until licenses are obtained from the War Trade Board. I shall be happy to inform you if and when such licenses are granted.
With regard to the action of the Spanish Ambassador in Washington in sending funds abroad, I venture to inform you that he has been permitted to continue these remittances only at the special request of His Majesty the King of Spain, but that the Ambassador has already been asked to discontinue this practice as soon as the arrangements for this work have been completed and the necessary licenses obtained by the firms and charitable organizations which the Department proposes to recommend to the War Trade Board.
[Page 425]As regards the forwarding of money to enemy territory, this has been permitted up to the enactment of the Trading with the Enemy Act, in limited sums only, to American citizens who were either prevented from leaving such territory through good and sufficient reason, or to enable them to depart. Each case has been carefully examined by the Legation at Berne, based upon reports from the Spanish Embassy in Berlin, the final decision resting with the Department. The Department will await authorization from the War Trade Board before acting upon future remittances of this nature.
I am [etc.]