381.81/326: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Acting American Representative to the French Committee of National Liberation at Algiers ( Chapin )
926. Please investigate and verify statement made in Casablanca’s telegram No. 76, March 24, 5 p.m. to Department, repeated to Algiers as no. 15, that American military authorities in Algiers have made an agreement with French whereby American ressortissants in French Morocco must apply to French military commanders of their regions for permission to operate their cars.
[Page 516]As stated in the Department’s telegram no. 470 of February 12, 8 p.m., a serious view is taken of any attempt to infringe the treaty rights of American ressortissants in Morocco. The Department has emphasized repeatedly that no decrees promulgated in Morocco are applicable to American ressortissants until this Government’s consent is conveyed to the Resident General by our Legation in Tangier in accordance with the customary formal procedure.
The authorization given the Legation in Tangier in the Department’s instruction no. 166 of March 24, 1944 has reference of course only to the wartime financial restrictions which were the subject of Mr. Russell’s despatch mentioned in that instruction.
Please repeat this telegram and your reply to Tangier, Casablanca and Rabat.