890D.01/649: Telegram
The Consul at Beirut ( Gwynn ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:06 a.m.]
340. My 317, August 31, 9 a.m. Syrian Official Journal September 3 publishes a decree of August 25 the substance of which reads as follows:
“The hospital of the American Mission in Syria located at Deir ez Zor is exempted for all direct taxes as of the date of its establishment. All taxes paid by this hospital will be returned to it.”
It will be noted that the terms of the decree are much less comprehensive than those of the note dated August 24. This latter in turn would appear to me scarcely to satisfy the request contained in the informal aide-mémoire I left with the Syrian Foreign Minister on August 20.