811.22761/30
Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Division of European Affairs (Henderson)
Attached hereto you will note a memorandum prepared by EA71 regarding the practice of the Soviet Government of sending engineers and technicians into American plants in order to observe and learn the technical processes.
The Amtorg Corporation has recently made inquiries regarding the possibility of arranging to place Soviet engineers in American rubber manufacturing plants. Mr. Viles, President of the Rubber Manufacturers Association, has inquired as to what our attitude would be with respect to the conclusion of such an arrangement.72 Mr. Veatch of EA has discussed the matter with Colonel MacMorland of the Army and Navy Munitions Board. Colonel MacMorland, after a conversation with appropriate Army officers, has indicated that M. I. D.73 would like to see an end put to the practice of admitting Soviet technicians into American plants. M. I. D. apparently is of the opinion that such representatives act as an espionage service, and suggests that in order to check or discourage the practice, the Department of State might inform the Soviet Government that this Government would not be prepared to approve the entry of Soviet technicians into American plants unless the Soviet Government is prepared to welcome American observers (either private or governmental) into Soviet plants. M. I. D. feels that we should, for instance, insist that our Military Attaché in Moscow74 be allowed to inspect Soviet manufacturing establishments.
We do not believe that the procedure suggested by M. I. D. is desirable or practicable. In the first place, we do not want American engineers flocking just now to the Soviet Union to inspect Soviet plants. Ambassador Steinhardt has been urging for some time that we restrain American citizens from visiting the Soviet Union. Furthermore, if the Soviet Government should accept an arrangement of the character suggested (this is not, of course, likely), we should find ourselves in a position which would render it almost necessary for us to view with favor Soviet requests that Soviet technicians be admitted into American plants. Such an attitude on our part would [Page 257] undoubtedly be resented by many American manufacturers, who, as a result of experience, do not desire visits from Soviet technicians.
In general, it may be said that any kind of arrangement for permitting Soviet technicians to enter American plants in consideration for the granting of permission for American engineers and Government officials to inspect Soviet plants would be sure to lead to endless disputes involving our manufacturers, the Soviet Government, and ourselves.
There appears to be no legal way for keeping Soviet engineers and technicians out of our plants. If the Army and Navy have strong feelings on this subject, however, it is possible that with the cooperation of other Departments of the Government and of various trade organizations they may exercise, at least during the period of the war, effective control over such visits.
It is possible, for instance, that the Army and Navy could arrange for such a control to be exercised, through some appropriate Governmental institution, such as the Army and Navy Munitions Board. This institution could prepare a list of the types of plants in which Soviet engineers would not be welcome and could notify the pertinent trade organizations, as well as particular plants, in certain instances, that for the protection of the public interests no foreign officials or technicians should be permitted to inspect American plants of the types contained in the list without permission in each individual case from the institution in question. This institution might also inform the Department of State of the situation and the Department could instruct the American Embassy in Moscow not to grant visas to Soviet engineers and technicians desiring to come to this country for the purpose of entering industrial plants of the character set forth in the list until after each individual visa application had been referred to the Department and until after the Department had had an opportunity to obtain the views of the institution in question as to the desirability of the proposed visit. Since each request for a visa or a visit would be decided upon its individual merits, it would be difficult for charges of discrimination against any one country to be substantiated.
A procedure of the type above outlined would be extremely cumbersome and certainly should not be adopted unless the Army and Navy feel that positive steps should be taken to exclude Soviet engineers and technicians from American plants.
It might be pointed out in this connection that recently representatives of a number of American plants have endeavored to persuade me to authorize them to inform Amtorg that the State Department did not look with favor upon the visits of Soviet engineers in their plants. They have stated that these visits result in little business; that [Page 258] the engineers when once admitted make all kinds of requests for information and privileges; and that in the end it is found necessary to refuse some of these requests, so that frequently the visits result in the creation of bad feelings rather than in increased good will. Officials of American firms frequently say that they dislike to refuse to admit Soviet engineers in their plants, since such a refusal might result in their being placed on the Amtorg “black list”.75
- Memorandum of March 12 by the Office of the Adviser on International Economic Affairs, not printed.↩
- In an attached memorandum of March 22 Mr. Veatch of the Office of the Adviser on International Economic Affairs noted that “Mr. Viles has now expressed the opinion that the rubber industry, entirely on its own responsibility, will wish to avoid any arrangement for Soviet engineers to visit or work in American rubber factories.”↩
- Military Intelligence Division, War Department.↩
- Maj. Ivan D. Yeaton.↩
- The Adviser on International Economic Affairs, Herbert Feis, wrote “I agree” at the end of this memorandum.↩