811.801/524
The Danish Legation to the Department of State
Memorandum
On February 4th 1932 identical bills S. 3501 and H. R. 8874 with respect to the so-called “fighting ships” and S. 3502 and H. R. 8875 regarding the so-called “cruises” were presented respectively in the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Further, on March 19th a bill H. R. 10674 proposing an amendment to section 20 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1920, and exclusively referring to foreign vessels, was introduced in the House.
The Danish Legation has been instructed to inform the Department of State that the Danish Government would greatly regret if provisions such as the ones contained in the said bills should be carried into law, inasmuch as these provisions would seem to entail considerable risk for discretionary treatment of Danish shipping and [Page 942] hardly to be in accordance with international principles generally recognized. The Legation is further instructed to state that the Danish Government is of the opinion that the provisions of the said bills are not in conformity with the principles laid down in the Convention of friendship, commerce and navigation between Denmark and the United States of April 26, 1826,23 see its Article 2.
- Malloy, Treaties, 1776–1909, vol. i, p. 373.↩