821.51/1746a: Telegram
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in Colombia (Dawson)
78. A New York Times despatch, under Bogotá date line of November 22, states: “Paper currency was made legal tender for 5 years for the payment of all obligations stipulated as payable in gold, excepting import and export duties.” Since we have proceeded on the basis that duties would be payable as previously in paper pesos, the present draft of the trade agreement49 makes no mention of the type of currency to be used in paying these duties. It is obvious that the duty concessions in the proposed agreement will be largely ineffective if importers must pay in gold.
Please telegraph urgently whether Congress has in fact passed such a law.