611.629Ruhr/13: Telegram
The Ambassador in France ( Herrick ) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 16—4:30 p.m.]
201. As instructed I have submitted the subject of your no. 146, April 11, to the Foreign Office. I have just received a formula from the Foreign Office of the statements I am to sign in accordance with the requirements of the Interallied Rhineland High Commission’s resolution of March 15. The formula states that I certify, in conformity with instructions of my Government, that the merchandise for which a license is requested from the High Commission for the (insert name of firm) answers to following conditions (insert specifications of weight and value of the merchandise) purchased by (insert name of purchaser), made under contract of (insert date); that payment has been made in whole or in part or not at all; that merchandise was deliverable on (insert date); that the German manufacturer refuses to take out a license and that he has or has not authorized the buyer to substitute himself for the exporter in making this request; and that I declare that the execution of this order has “general interest” for the United States.
I lost no time in informing the Foreign Office that the Department would not authorize me to sign such a statement. I was told in reply that the Foreign Office would be satisfied if I made only the statement in regard to the “general interest” of the merchandise in question; this, the Foreign Office maintains could without difficulty be ascertained through the local Chamber of Commerce or similar institution in the United States. The formula, it was explained, represents the maximum required, and I was informed that remaining statements may be made in occupied Germany by the American purchaser concerned.
It is my opinion that it is the object of the French Government to maintain a strict control over exports to all countries but, as in the case of the United States, to facilitate exports as much as possible in certain instances. The point made is that in the case of the United States the diplomatic representative of that Government is merely taking the place of the representative on the Interallied High Commission who in the case of his own nationals certifies in a similar manner, and that there is, therefore, no discrimination against the United States.
The French Government has assured me that it desires to accommodate all foreign commercial interests, but that it is anxious to avoid fraud in regard to export licenses.
[Page 202]The date to which you refer should be February 1 and not February 10.
I should appreciate the Department’s instructions as I am daily receiving requests from American commercial interests.