811.711/1585
The Ambassador of the Soviet Union (Umansky) to the Secretary of State
The Ambassador of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and with reference to his oral representations to Mr. Sumner Welles, Under Secretary of State, on February 26 and March 1, 1941,14 in connection with the detention and destruction by United States postal authorities of mail originating in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, has the honor hereby to reiterate his emphatic protest against such actions by officials of the Government of the United States.
In the course of the Ambassador’s current discussions with the Under Secretary of State, Mr. Welles was kind enough to inform the Ambassador that the United States Post Office was prepared to forward across the Pacific, from and to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, posts whose delivery by normal and shorter routes had become impracticable.
The Ambassador regrets to state that after a short period of postal intercourse across this route, delivery has been virtually discontinued, since mid-December 1940, with respect to periodicals and other postal matter which, according to officially verified information, have been despatched from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to addresses in the United States.
The Ambassador considers it as established that such postal matter originating in his country is being retained and destroyed by United States postal authorities, which are fully responsible for this disruption of postal communication between the two countries. In this connection the Ambassador brings to the Secretary’s particular attention a statement by the Postmaster General, published in the American press (New York Times, February 21), referring to the destruction of fifteen tons of mail from certain countries, including the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. According to these reports, the Postmaster General, in a letter to Senator McKellar,15 declared that this material was treated as unmailable “because of non-registration of the sender.” The Ambassador is unaware of any international postal regulation or domestic legislation of the United States which declares any material unmailable, “because of non-registration of the sender.”
If this statement of the Postmaster General refers to the law for registration of agents of foreign principals, the Ambassador cannot assume that the Department of State considers American domestic legislation concerning agents of foreign principals to be applicable to [Page 717] the foreign principals themselves residing beyond the jurisdiction of the United States Government. The Ambassador trusts that the Secretary will share his opinion that it is hardly conceivable that legislative or executive bodies, government institutions, or publishers or editors, in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, be requested to register as agents of foreign principals with the Department of State merely by virtue of the fact that they issue on their territory publications which might be carried by the United States mail. The Ambassador is authorized to state that his Government entirely excludes this possibility and is unable to recommend to any institution within the Soviet Union, to register with the Government of the United States as an agent of a foreign principal by virtue of the fact that such institutions or publishing enterprises are acting as publishers of periodicals or other postal matter. Irrespective of the self-evident incompatibility of such registration with international law and usage, the Ambassador is unaware of any interpretation of American domestic legislation which would require registration of this nature.
The Ambassador is in possession of a copy of a letter from the office of the Solicitor of the Post Office Department addressed to a duly registered agent of a foreign principal, the authorized distributing agent for certain Soviet periodicals, the Four Continent Book Corporation of New York City, which states:
“You are advised that the November 4 and 21 and the December 7, 1940, issues of the Moscow News have been held nonmailable under Section 600, Postal Laws and Regulations, 1932. The November, 1940, issue of Sovietland and No. II, 1940, International Literature printed in German and published in Moscow have likewise been held to be nonmailable under the regulations cited.”
The Ambassador is further in possession of original wrappers of newspapers and periodicals sent to the above-mentioned registered distributing agent for Soviet periodicals and containing only one or two copies of the quantity forwarded in these wrappers; thus, of twenty-five copies of the newspaper Pravda of November 16, 1940, contained in one wrapper, and of eighty copies of the same newspaper of November 18, contained in another wrapper, as well as of fifty-seven copies each of the Jewish newspaper, Birobidjaner Shtern, issues of December 10 and 12, only two copies in each case were left in the wrappers and forwarded to the Four Continent Book Corporation. The wrappers bear markings by a Post Office official in San Francisco certifying the original number of copies contained in the wrappers which, in accordance with postal regulations, had clearly visible marks of the country of origin, being stamped “printed in the Soviet Union,” of payment of postage and the sender’s name and [Page 718] address. Moreover at a later date the Four Continent Book Corporation was informed by the postal authorities that even these few copies were forwarded in error, since the newspapers in question, Pravda and Birobidjaner Shtern, had been held nonmailable under Section 600, Postal Laws and Regulations 1932.
Since the above postal matter and communication from the United States Post Office were addressed to a registered agent of the sender, whose name appeared on the wrapper, it would seem that the interruption of posts was based on some other ground than non-registration of the sender.
In addition to the periodicals mentioned in the letter from the office of the Solicitor of the Post Office Department, cited above, and in addition to a large number of newspapers and periodicals addressed to the Ambassador, many institutions and private persons in the United States have failed to receive various cultural and scientific publications duly despatched by post from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Ambassador regrets to note that delivery of mail from the Soviet Union to the United States has generally, within the last three months, become a rare exception and that the greater part of mail originating in his country has been detained and destroyed by the United States postal authorities.
Furthermore, according to information at the disposal of the Ambassador, during the last few months many Soviet periodicals have failed to reach subscribers in Great Britain, including the Soviet Ambassador in London.16 In view of the fact that postal communication between the Soviet Union and Great Britain is mostly carried on by way of the United States, and inasmuch as the British Government has imposed no restrictions upon the delivery of Soviet periodicals in Great Britain, the Ambassador presumes that non-delivery of such mail to the Soviet Ambassador in London and to other addressees in Great Britain is similarly due to the detention and destruction of Soviet periodicals by United States postal authorities.
The Ambassador finds himself compelled to express on behalf of his Government to the Secretary of State a most emphatic protest against the non-delivery of mail addressed to him and to members of his staff, and to other officials of the government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in the United States.
The Ambassador equally lodges emphatic protest against discriminatory treatment of Soviet periodicals and other mail destined for addresses within the United States, which have been arbitrarily treated as nonmailable in spite of the fact that none of them appear [Page 719] to come within the category of nonmailable material as defined in international postal regulations or in any American laws.
The interference with the posts as above described appears to violate the immunity of the Ambassador and to introduce a discriminatory treatment with respect to the entrance of mails from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into the United States, which amounts to a disruption of normal cultural intercourse between the two countries.
The Ambassador trusts the Secretary of State will not fail to take immediate steps to remedy this abnormal situation and to restore the necessary conditions for regular and reciprocal postal intercourse between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States.