851.6363/168: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Marriner) to the Secretary of State
[Received 2:25 p.m.]
475. Reference Embassy’s telegram 435, September 30, noon. Article 3 of the budget now before Parliament provides that the state shall take an annual share of the profits of the imports of crude oil and petroleum and fixes the yield of this participation at 180,000,000 francs per year. [Page 175] It further provides that in no case shall this tax be taken into account in fixing the limit prices of petroleum.
Considering that the sum is not fixed as a percentage of profit and that there is a prohibition of an alteration in price to meet such a tax it would appear that this was a governmental effort to appease the Socialist desire for an oil monopoly. Needless to say the American interests now functioning under licenses granted by the French Government would suffer under conditions not to be foreseen at the time the contracts were made.
The British Embassy has let the Foreign Office know that any action direct or indirect equivalent to confiscation or monopoly would bring about a consequent demand for indemnification of British companies.
I have let the Foreign Office know that the American Government has the same interest in this matter as any other country similarly affected.