811.114 Belgium/226
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Belgium (Morris)
Sir: With reference to the confidential instruction of February 4, 1936, enclosing a copy of a memorandum5 of my conversation with the Belgian Ambassador on the subject of alcohol smuggling into the United States, I desire to inform you that the Ambassador subsequently requested Baron Beyens, Second Secretary of the Embassy, to call at the Department and discuss the matter more fully. Baron Beyens did so on February 26 and 29, 1936, and there are enclosed for your information copies of three memoranda6 which were handed to him on the occasion of his second visit. Commander B. M. Thompson, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Treasury, was also present at both of these conferences.
Baron Beyens stated that he believed that the Ambassador was favorably impressed by our arguments and would send a report to Brussels recommending that the action we desire be taken. You are requested to do whatever in your discretion may properly be done to facilitate the cooperation which this Government would appreciate receiving from the Belgian Government in connection with the suppression of alcohol smuggling.
I may add that since Baron Beyens’ last call at the Department, word has been received from the American Ambassador at Mexico City that the President of Mexico signed a decree on February 29, 1936, designed to prevent the use of Mexican territory as a base for the smuggling of alcohol.7
Very truly yours,