681.003/59
The Ambassador in France ( Straus ) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 19.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s instruction No. 348 of March 8 [April 6], 1934,7 with regard to the report contained in despatch No. 923 of March 8, 1934, from the American Diplomatic Agent at Tangier to the effect that during the course of a session of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the French Senate, M. Ordinaire expressed the alleged necessity of raising the Moroccan tariff rates.
Sometime ago the Embassy made informal inquiries of a member of the Commercial Section at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in this regard. The official concerned today advised the Embassy that he had discussed the matter with the official of the Ministry charged with Moroccan affairs. Neither officer knows of any movement on foot to increase the Moroccan tariff rates. It was stated that it was possible M. Ordinaire made the proposal cited in Mr. Blake’s despatch but that the French Government was not now considering any such departure. It was added that should a step of this nature be envisaged, the French Government would of course officially communicate with all the treaty powers.
Since the proceedings of the sessions of the Parliamentary committees are not published, it would be difficult to obtain the exact text of the statement made by M. Ordinaire.
Respectfully yours,
- Not printed.↩