467.11St25/45a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain (Davis)
6138. The Department is informed by the Standard Oil Company of New York that its representative, Mr. Sheffield, has been sent to Bagdad to investigate petroleum conditions in Mesopotamia but is forbidden to operate by British authorities. Sheffield has reported that a geologist, probably employed by the Shell group, has been working in Mesopotamia for four months past. Please intimate to British Government that Department expects that representatives of private American concerns will be allowed equal privileges with those [Page 260] of British or other nationalities in Mesopotamia as well as Palestine. Consul at Bagdad has been instructed to cable information regarding activities of any private or government agencies in Mesopotamian petroleum fields.