645.116/48
The Secretary of State to the Consul General at Calcutta (Wilson)45
The Secretary of State encloses for the attention of the Consular Officer in charge a copy of a letter dated March 12, 1941, together with an enclosure thereto, from the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 152 Madison Avenue, New York, New York,46 concerning the desire of the Society that shipments of certain types of medical and educational supplies made to its representatives in India and [Page 202] Burma be exempted from import control restrictive measures and prohibitions in view of the fact that they are financed entirely by American funds.
The American Baptist Foreign Mission Society states in its letter that, for the past twenty years, it has been shipping medical and school supplies to its missions in India and Burma and that most of these articles consist of contributions and gifts from affiliated religious organizations in the United States. It appears that some of the materials, such as bandages and certain medical supplies, are prepared by church women and that monetary contributions equivalent to the value of such articles can not be obtained. It is pointed out that these shipments are not financed by mission funds in India and Burma and that they involve no exchange transactions for the purchase of dollars.
From the information available to the Department it is understood that shipments of the type referred to are subject to import control measures and that no provision exists exempting them from restrictions and prohibitions generally applicable to ordinary commercial goods purchased with rupee funds. Since it is the Department’s understanding that the ostensible purpose of existing regulations controlling imports is to conserve exchange, it is desired that you ascertain from the appropriate local authorities what exemptions may be made with respect to importations by all American missionary organizations in India of supplies of this character which do not involve foreign exchange transactions, pointing out that such supplies represent the voluntary contribution of materials for use in philanthropic enterprises. The list of articles submitted by the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society as an enclosure to its letter may, of course, be regarded as illustrative and not as a complete list of the articles which the Mission Society desires to import.
The Department desires that you submit a report on the subject by air mail.
A similar instruction has been sent to Rangoon.