812.24/1803
The Ambassador in Mexico (Messersmith) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 15.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the telephone conversation of February 25, 1943, between Mr. Evan M. Wilson of the Department and Mr. Henry E. Allen of the Embassy.
The situation as to the date of the inauguration of decentralization is set forth in the Embassy’s despatch no. 7742 of February 25, 1943.75 As soon as it is determined when the Import Recommendation forms will be ready, the cut-off date will be established and advised to the Department by telegraph or telephone, as requested.
It is the Embassy’s view that decentralized control should be applied simultaneously to all articles and materials which are, at the outset, to be made subject to decentralized control. It is, however, to be noted that the Embassy, in conjunction with the Mexican certifying agency, has already instituted a measure of decentralized control since the issuance of the first quarter certificates of necessity for iron and steel and tin plate. In the case of these commodities, as well as in the case of copper, brass and bronze, and various other commodities, the Embassy has had the opportunity to go over the lists of applications for certificates of necessity and discuss them with the Mexican authorities; and with minor exceptions agreement has been reached with regard to the issuance of certificates, and the list of certificates so agreed upon has been forwarded to the Department. The list is then turned over to the Consignee Control Section of the Embassy, which examines into the political desirability of the consignees whose requirements have been recommended. Cases of political undesirability of such consignees will be reported to the Department. It will be observed that, except for the employment of the new Import Recommendation form, it has been possible to put into practice the local portion of decentralized procedure for many of the commodities subject to quota in the first quarter of 1943. The issuance of certificates of necessity for the first quarter has been delayed in the case of many other commodities, but the Embassy will endeavor to apply the foregoing procedure to these remaining commodities as and when the lists [Page 237] of proposed certificates of necessity are referred to the Embassy by the Mexican certifying agency.
Respectfully yours,
Counselor of Embassy for Economic Affairs
- Not printed.↩