851.731/123: Telegram
The Ambassador in France ( Bullitt ) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 5—1:25 p.m.]
1786. French Commission de Controle Télégraphique Internationale, responsible for censoring all cables coining from the United States to France or through France for relay to neutral or friendly countries, reported to the Embassy that it is holding up an increasing number of cables from New York and other points in the United States [Page 541] because they are phrased in non-usual codes. French Bureau will not deliver or forward any cable which it cannot decipher. Could it be asked if American senders of cables using French lines could be informed that only those phrased in plain language (English or French) or in one of the approved codes (code National Frangais, ABC code 6th edition, Bentley’s complete phrase code, Bentley’s second phrase code, Cogef Lugagne 1929, Acme commodity and phrase code, Peterson banking code 3d edition, new Boe code and appendix) will be forwarded for delivery by the French Bureau. The Bureau stated that one or two more codes of common usage in America, should such codes exist, might be added to the above official list on the condition that the French Bureau be provided with complete keys to such codes.