868.5151/262: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Minister in Greece (MacVeagh)
108. Your 93, May 26, 3 p.m. Requirement of conversion of earnings of foreign residents into the currency of the country is a measure so destructive of the mutual advantages of residence and establishment rights that even in the few countries where it may exist in principle, it has been substantially abrogated in practice, at least in application to Americans, by the liberal granting of exceptions. Vis-à-vis the United States, which is the greatest supplier of free exchange to Greece, the requirement lacks any equitable basis of reciprocity. You may in your discretion act on parallel lines with your colleagues in any reasonable protest, or make vigorous separate representations, emphasizing also the practical objections.