Office of the Historian

660f.116 Tractors/11

The Chargé in Czechoslovakia (Hibbard) to the Secretary of State

No. 684
Prague, March 16, 1932.
[Received March 31.]

Sir: I have the honor to refer to my despatch No. 192, of January 15, 1931, and to the Department’s Instruction No. 61, of March 12, 1931,4 concerning certain difficulties experienced by the importers of American tractors in receiving the necessary import licenses from the Czechoslovak authorities and to transmit herewith a translation of a note which I have received from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in reply to numerous notes sent to that office on this subject.

I have endeavored at various times to secure a statement by the Czechoslovak authorities as to how many tractors would be admitted during a given period. Such a decision would eliminate a great deal of the uncertainty now existing as practically all companies have been unable to import tractors without definite knowledge of how many would be admitted into the country. It will be seen from the enclosed note that eleven tractors have now been granted entry permits. However the authorities state that they are not prepared to make an import contingent for tractors but that they will consider favorably all applications for the entry of tractors of a special type [Page 152] not manufactured in Czechoslovakia. This decision appears satisfactory to the representatives of the tractor companies, and I believe it wise not to press the matter further for the time being. There is no doubt that the Czechoslovak Government is in a difficult position in its attempt to preserve its financial stability and every restrictive measure to guard the exchange will be resorted to. However my observation is that American imports are receiving favorable attention, perhaps even more favorable than that granted to other countries, and in view of the difficulties of the situation I believe that American industries must be satisfied for the time being with these results;

Respectfully yours,

Frederick P. Hibbard
[Enclosure—Translation]

The Czechoslovak Ministry for Foreign Affairs to the American Legation

No. 30.536/IV–5/32
Prague, March 9, 1932.

In referring to the Note of the Legation of the United States of America, No. 1592, dated February 11, 1932, as well as to Note No. 1519, dated December 15, 1931, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has the honor to state that in accordance with a communication from the competent authorities permits for the importation of five (5) tractors marked “Caterpillar” requested by the firm Agra-Unie have been accorded.

Apart from the tractors of the above named mark, the authorities have also recently satisfied the requests for importation for other tractors of American manufacturers, for example, four (4) tractors of John Deere and two (2) of McCormick.

The authorities intend to treat as favorably as possible the requests for importation of American tractors of the special type not manufactured in Czechoslovakia which was the point in question in the Legation’s note and for this reason it is not considered necessary to make their importation a matter of contingent and to divide the contingent between different countries.

  1. Latter not printed.↩