861.51/2194
The Secretary of State to
the French Ambassador (Claudel)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency, the
Ambassador of the French Republic, and has the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of his note of March 5, 1928, concerning the rights of the Bank
of France with respect to gold held by the Soviet regime. The Ambassador
refers to the prohibition placed in 1921 on the acceptance by Assay
Offices of gold emanating from Russia, and inquires whether he can rely
upon the maintenance of the measures which have been taken by the
American Government with regard to imports of Russian gold.
In reply, the Secretary of State has the honor to state that he has been
advised by the Treasury Department that there is no present intention on
the part of that Department to change the position, maintained by it
since 1920, with respect to the acceptance of gold [Page 831] of Soviet origin, when tendered at
United States Mints and Assay Offices. In this connection there is
enclosed a copy of a statement issued to the press by the Secretary of
the Treasury on March 6, 1928, setting forth the attitude of the
Treasury Department with regard to the purchase of the Soviet gold
referred to in the Ambassador’s note.
Washington
, March 10, 1928.
[Enclosure]
Press Release Issued by the Treasury Department,
March 6, 1928
Statement by Secretary of the Treasury Mellon:
Some days ago there arrived in New York from the National Bank of
Soviet Russia some $5,000,000 of gold, half of which was consigned
to the Chase National Bank and the other half to the Equitable Trust
Company as agents. Since 1920 the Treasury Department has refused to
accept at the United States mints and assay offices gold coming from
Soviet Russia, the State Department having declined to give
assurances that the title to Soviet gold will not be subject to
attack internationally or otherwise.
In this particular instance the Treasury Department asked the
Equitable Trust Company and the Chase National Bank whether they
were ready to purchase the gold from the National Bank of Soviet
Russia and present it to the assay office at New York as owners. The
two banks have just informed this Department that they are unwilling
to purchase Soviet gold before presenting the same at the assay
office and that the presentation, if made, would be solely as agent
for the Russian Bank.
The provisions of law under which the Treasury acts in purchasing
gold or bullion through the United States mints and assay offices
are as follows:
Section 3519, Revised Statutes: “Any owner of gold bullion
may deposit the same at any mint to be formed into coin or
bars for his benefit …”
Inasmuch as provision is made by law only for
deposits by owners of gold, and since the Equitable Trust Company
and the Chase National Bank are unwilling to present the gold as
owners, the New York assay office will decline to receive this
$5,000,000 of gold.
