File No. 763.72111/4526

The Secretary of Agriculture ( Houston ) to the Secretary of State

Sir: In confirmation of telephone and personal conferences between the Third Assistant Secretary of State and the Chief of the Weather Bureau of this Department, relative to withholding the publication of information concerning the arrival and departure of vessels at Cape Henry, Va., and Sand Key, Fla., I transmit herewith copies of the instructions issued by the Weather Bureau affecting the vessel-reporting work at Cape Henry, Va., and Key West, Fla., also copies of letters addressed to the Chamber of Commerce at Baltimore and the Maritime Exchange at New Orleans, soliciting their cooperation in connection with the temporary suspension of the information service heretofore rendered.1

I also wish to say, in confirmation of oral representations, that the movements of shipping in and out of New York harbor by way of the Narrows are, we believe, fully reported by the Western Union and the Postal Telegraph Companies, who have observing stations located on Government property at Sandy Hook. We also understand that the Maritime Exchange at Philadelphia maintains a vessel-reporting station at Delaware Breakwater which reports fully the movements of shipping in that vicinity, and that the Baltimore Maritime Exchange, under an arrangement with the lighthouse keeper at Cove Point, Md., receives reports of boats in and out of Baltimore which supplement those heretofore furnished by the Weather Bureau station at Cape Henry. This Department is not informed at the present time just what other arrangements for reporting the movements of shipping may be in operation at other Atlantic and Gulf ports, but we are ready to aid the Department of State in this connection in any way that may be practicable.

Respectfully,

D. F. Houston
  1. Enclosures not printed.