611.6131/449: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union ( Davies )
90. Your 162, July 10, 10 a.m. References are to your numbered sections.
[Page 423]Your 1. In view of the Soviet request, the first sentence of section 3 of the agreement should be changed to read as follows: “This Agreement shall come into force on the day of proclamation thereof by the President of the United States of America and of approval thereof by the Soviet of People’s Commissars of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which proclamation and approval shall take place on the same day.”
Your 2. The Department desires that the wording of the last part of the letter after the words “will hold” be changed to read as follows: “that coal of all sizes, grades, and classifications (except culm and duff), coke manufactured therefrom, and coal or coke briquettes, imported from the Soviet Union will be exempt from the excise tax provided in Section 601 (c) (5) of the Revenue Act of 1932, as amended, subject, however, to possible adverse action by the courts.”
This change is desired to make the wording of the letter correspond more closely to the wording involving similar references contained in the Revenue Act of 1932 and in statements received by this Department from the Treasury.
Your 3. You should insert in the draft letter after the words “I may state” the word “that.”
Your 4. The Department has no objection to predating the signature of the agreement, but it would not be possible, for technical reasons, to predate the proclamation thereof, the date of which is the date on which the agreement goes into effect.