File No. 763.72112/706
The German Embassy to the Department of State
[Received February 8.]
The German Government expecting that the Government of the United States will extend to American trade with Germany, so far as it does not include contraband, the same protection as to the trade with other countries and in order to forestall all British objections, gives the formal assurance to the Government of the United States that all goods imported to Germany from the United States, directly or indirectly, and which belong to the class of relative contraband, as, f. i., foodstuffs, will not be used by the German Army or Navy nor by Government authorities, but will be left to the free consumption of the German civilian population excluding all Government’s purveyors.
The German Government would also be ready to leave for the duration of the war the sale and distribution of such imported goods, as oil or cereals, to American organizations.