611.573 Whale Oil/38
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The Norwegian Minister called and renewed his interest in the whale oil tariff revision by our Congress. I expressed equal interest in it and assured him that we were giving the matter every attention and would be glad to keep him informed as to developments. He then suggested what someone else had suggested last summer after it was too late and that was the insertion of a provision in the pending bill to the effect that whale oil imported to this country should be inedible. His view was that that would be the only purpose of such imports in any event, but that such insertion might disillusion some of the farmers who had the erroneous impression this whale oil would compete with some of their edible products, such as butter. I expressed interest in the suggestion and the impression at the moment that it might be a wise and feasible step to take.