835.34/405: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Argentina (Jay)
36. Your telegram 39, May 21, 11 a.m. Department is informed that the Electric Boat Company of New York is competing before an Argentine Commission in Paris for an order for three submarine torpedo boats of about nine hundred tons each. It is proposed to build them at works of Cockerill Company in Belgium but from designs and under superintendence of Electric Boat Company which would also furnish certain parts.
Strong foreign competition is reported. You should seek an early opportunity informally to request the appropriate authorities that American firms be given an equal chance to compete for this business and that their offers receive consideration equal to that accorded any other foreign companies.