3662.11173 Barley/7
The German Embassy to the Department of State
The German Embassy, under instructions by the German Government, has the honor to bring the following to the attention of the Department of State:
Barley of American origin, of which approximately twenty thousand tons have been imported into Germany since September 7, 1928 on seven steamers from the ports of Baltimore, Maryland, Norfolk, Virginia, New York, New York, Boston, Massachusetts and Montreal, Canada, principally via Bremen and also via Hamburg, has in hundreds of cases, when fed to hogs, caused diseases among those animals. Official feeding tests have shown that the barley in question endangers animal health. Although the chemical, botanical, bacteriological and feeding tests which have been started on a scientific basis, have not yet resulted in determining the definite cause of disease, it has already been established that large parts of the above mentioned shipments have been infected with mildew germs and that therefore the barley seriously menaces German agriculture. Since additional shipments of about sixty thousand tons of barley are expected to arrive in Germany during the next few weeks, the German Government may be compelled, for the protection of animals, to take measures which may result in the restriction of importation or the issue of a temporary embargo against barley suspected of being infected.
The American Consul in Bremen was duly informed of the matter by the Government of the City of Bremen, immediately after the discovery of the existing danger. It is also understood that the Bremen Association of Grain Importers informed the United States Department of Agriculture and the American shippers accordingly.
The foregoing is brought to the attention of the Government of the United States in view of the fact that it might also be in the interest of the United States to test barley, regarding the possibility of its endangering animal health before shipments for export are made, and possibly to prevent infected barley from being shipped abroad.