Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1916, Supplement, The World War

File No. 300.115/7200

The Ambassador in Great Britain (Page) to the Secretary of State

No. 2937

London, January 28, 1916 .
[Received February 17.]

Sir: Referring to my cablegram No. 3659 of to-day’s date,¹ and to previous correspondence in regard to the export of hops of German and Austrian origin to the United States, I have the honor to enclose herewith, for the information of the Department, a copy of the note, dated the 27th instant, which has been received from the Foreign Office in reply to my representations in the premises, and in which it is set forth that the British Government regret their inability to give any general undertaking respecting the shipment of the hops in question to the United States.

I have [etc.]

Walter Hines Page

[Enclosure]

The British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Grey) to the American Ambassador (Page)

No. 196582/C

London, January 27, 1916 .

Your Excellency: With reference to the memorandum which your excellency was good enough to communicate to this Department on the 6th and 22d November, respecting the shipment of German and Austrian hops to the United States of America, I have the honour to inform your excellency that the matter has been carefully considered in communication with the French Government in the light of the information which it has been possible to obtain as to the actual need of German and Austrian varieties of hops in the United States.

It appears that the United States produce more hops than are required for their own domestic consumption, the export of hops from the United States being considerably in excess of the imports into that country. Thus, whilst in 1913 the total imports amounted to about forty-eight thousand hundredweight (practically all from the Central empires), the exports from the United States to the United Kingdom alone amount annually to about one hundred and thirty thousand hundredweight.

It has, I am informed, been stated that the strong flavour of the hops grown on the Pacific slopes necessitates their being mixed with imported hops, preferably of German or Austrian origin, but it appears that the strength of the hops can be altered by the use of soft or hard water according to circumstances There is, moreover, strong ground for believing that hops which purported to emanate from Germany and Austria-Hungary in the past were often really of Russian origin.

It is understood that there are at present large stocks of Russian hops of the best quality at Vladivostok, and Normandy hops, which are said to be equal in quality to Saaz or Württemberg produce, could no doubt be obtained. The Russian crop amounts on the average to about eighty-seven thousand hundredweight and the French crop to thirty thousand hundredweight.

His Majesty’s Government do not see any analogy between the case of hops and that of beet seed, which is acknowledged not to be procurable elsewhere at present than from Germany or Austria, and which was required for the beet-sugar industry of the United States.

There is no suggestion that the brewing industry is at all dependent upon supplies of hops from enemy sources and His Majesty’s Government regret their inability to give any general undertaking in regard to the shipment of German or Austrian hops to the United States of America as requested.

I have [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:

M. de Bunsen

1. Not printed.