611.629 Ruhr/29: Telegram
The Ambassador in France ( Herrick ) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 8—9:42 a.m.]
237. Your 173, April 28, 5 p.m. In reply to my note of April 30 addressed to the Minister of Foreign Affairs in accordance with the Department’s instruction I have received the following which I quote in full:
“By a letter dated April 30th last you were good enough to call my attention to the discrimination which appeared to exist in the [Page 205] eyes of the American Government to the detriment of American trade in the commercial regime set up by the Allied Governments in occupied Germany.
The anxiety manifested in this respect by the Washington Cabinet appears to rest on a misunderstanding both concerning the commercial regime in question as well as the measures taken by the Allied Governments to amend it in favor of the interests concerned. The commercial regime existing in the occupied territory is one which arises from the laws and regulations established by the German Government itself for the whole extent of German territory. Obliged on account of the continued defaults of the German Government to take its place in the exercise of certain rights particularly concerning the collection of customs dues the Allied Governments did not deem fit to use all of the rights given to them by the Treaty of Versailles other than those inscribed in article 270. They have therefore respected as far as circumstances enabled them to do so the commercial regime established before their intervention.
But the German Government having adopted a series of measures in order to thwart the action of the Allies as [and?] to disorganize the economic life of the occupied regions, the Allies have endeavored to attenuate the effects on the foreign interests concerned by special measures.
Thus among other measures the Interallied Rhineland High Commission in its ordinance of March 15 authorized foreign buyers to substitute themselves for the defaulting German sellers when it is a question of orders placed prior to February 1st, that is to say, until a date when not a single merchant or manufacturer in the occupied territory could ignore the seizure of the customs by the Allies and its consequence, this seizure having taken place on the preceding January 20. The applicants’ Government had only to certify through diplomatic channels the character of general interest of the order giving rise to the request for an export license. Digest of modalities [sic] of applications were however to be taken according to whether it was a question of nationals of powers represented or not on the Interallied High Commission.
Indeed the Interallied High Commissioners could not be otherwise than competent to [re] present with all the necessary official undertakings the requests for exceptions coming from their Governments and which they were to examine while the powers not represented on the Interallied High Commission were to instruct one of their representatives near one of the Allied Governments to deliver the necessary attestation in order to bring about the exceptional procedure established by this formula, an inevitable consequence of the different situation, because [but?] it is no discrimination of which American trade can legitimately complain.
The certificate made out by the duly authorized diplomatic authority is transmitted directly to the High Commission at Coblenz where all the necessary measures are taken for the rapid delivery of the necessary authorizations for the issuance of export licenses. The applications submitted by nationals of third powers are examined at the same time and in the same spirit as those which are made in favor of nationals of the powers represented on the [Page 206] Interallied High Commission. The authorizations are delivered on the spot to the persons authorized by the interested parties or to the interested parties themselves; no delay can exist on this count and no complaint has been made on this point by the interested Governments.
The American consul in the Rhineland can therefore intervene on these bases with good results in favor of his compatriots. He will find in all the service the High Commission and particularly in the French services all desirable facilities. But the Allied Governments cannot in any way allow his intervention in the procedure [followed] in making applications for licenses on the same footing as the High Commissioners. Of its own free will the American Government withdrew from all the Interallied organizations and it cannot claim the advantages therefore even theoretically as is the case in the premises without assuming the obligations thereof.
The Allies have endeavored—in this respect they have practically succeeded—to insure to the commerce of third powers all the advantages of which they have recognized the granting as compatible with their policy without discrimination of any kind. They cannot, however, under present circumstances concede to the American consul at Coblenz a position that could not be granted to all consular representatives of neutral countries: any concession in this respect would end in the complete disorganization of the regime established in favor of neutral trade and in view of the formal decision of the Allied Governments to continue their action as long as may be necessary, the maintenance of the American request could have no other consequence than the complete suppression of the favored regime which the Allies have been happy to grant in the interest of foreign trade and the economic life of the occupied regions.
Please accept, Mr. Ambassador, etc. Signed, R. Poincaré.”