881.00/851: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Great Britain ( Harvey )

290. Your 438, October 14th, noon.

Please bring the following informally to the attention of the Foreign Office as soon as possible and repeat for similar action to Paris and Madrid:

“This Government has noted with interest that the experts now conferring in London with regard to the question of Tangier have decided that a plenary conference for the determination of the future status of Tangier should be called.

While this Government has no political interest in Morocco, it is a party to the Act of Algeciras under which act nationals of the United States enjoy certain rights and privileges in Tangier. This Government takes this occasion to remind the Governments participating in the Conference regarding Tangier that its fundamental interest in Tangier is to maintain the principle of the Open Door, that is the equality of commercial opportunity and to secure adequate protection for the life, liberty and property of its citizens as stated in its ratification of the Act of Algeciras. It presumes that at the forthcoming conference nothing will be done to interfere with the maintenance of the principle above mentioned or the rights or interests of the United States.”

Hughes