681.11212/11
The American Diplomatic Agent and Consul General at Tangier ( Blake ) to the French Resident General in Morocco ( Saint )4
Mr. Resident-General: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s two Notes, Nos. 33–D and 45–D [46–D?] dated respectively February 11, and 20, 1930,5 on the subject of the Vizirial Decree of July 6, 1929, concerning the importation of canned foodstuffs.
Your Excellency’s first mentioned communication encloses 20 copies of a pamphlet containing the texts relative to the repression of frauds in the matter of foodstuffs, and includes the text of the general Dahir of October 14, 1914, relating to the repression of commercial frauds, in execution of which the Vizirial Decree designated in the preceding paragraph has been issued. Your Excellency’s Note No. 45–D [46–D?] of February 20, 1930, informs me that a further delay of six months has been granted in respect of the application of the measure in question, not only for the liquidation of existing stocks, but also insofar as concerns the importation of preserved foodstuffs.
In transmitting to Your Excellency my thanks for these communications, I would recall, as I pointed out in my letter of January 17, last, that the measures contemplated by the Vizirial Decree of July 6, 1929, or indeed the provisions of any other legislative enactments cannot be legally enforced upon American nationals and protégés in the French Zone of Morocco, unless and until consent to them has been given by my Government, in response to a formal application [Page 740] therefor on the part of the Protectorate Government. May I point out to Your Excellency that no formal solicitation for the American Government’s sanction of the application to American ressortissants in the French Zone of Morocco of the provisions of the Vizirial Decree of July 6, 1929, is made in either of the above mentioned communications from the Residency General, and since the absence of this formality tends to delay any useful submission of the matter to the Department of State, I would be grateful if Your Excellency would be good enough to expedite the transmission to this Diplomatic Agency of the requisite application in the premises.
I would venture to suggest however, with a view to facilitating matters, both for the Protectorate Government and for this Diplomatic Agency, since many of the Dahirs and Vizirial Decrees, including the Decree in question, which are contained in the “Recueil de la Reglementation Marocaine en matiere de Repression des Fraudes sur les Denrees Alimentaires” enclosed in Your Excellency’s Note No. 33–D of February 11, 1930, have not yet been submitted for the approval of the United States Government, that a formal request be now made by the Residency General for the American Government’s assent to all and each of the legislative measures set forth in the pamphlet referred to.
Upon the receipt of this request, the Dahirs and Vizirial Decrees in question will be submitted to the Secretary of State as promptly as the necessary translation, analysis, and commentary by this Diplomatic Agency will permit, and Your Excellency will be advised of such action as may be taken by the American Government in each case, as and when the corresponding instructions of the Department of State are received by this Diplomatic Agency.
Please accept [etc.]