File No. 763.72112/4648
The Attorney General ( Gregory) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 5.]
My Dear Mr. Secretary: I am in receipt of your letter of August 28, 1917, transmitting a note from the British Ambassador of August 18, 1917, relative to the proposition to bring pressure to [Page 941] bear upon neutrals in order to deter them from rendering assistance to the enemy.1
I understand the British proposition to be substantially as follows:
That the United States should direct its citizens and banking houses in the United States to discontinue all intercourse, direct or indirect, with any banking house in another country which has any dealings with that class of persons defined as “enemy” by the United States; in other words, if a Brazilian bank A in Brazil should deal with B a German doing business within Brazil and also within Germany (and therefore an “enemy”), the United States should direct a United States citizen C to have no dealings with the Brazilian bank A.
The mere statement of the proposition, in my opinion, demonstrates the inadvisability of any assent by the United States to such a course of action. It would amount clearly to the most extreme form of black list of citizens of neutral nations—restricting American dealings with such neutral citizens simply because the latter might also be entering into transactions with German enemies perfectly legitimate under the law of the neutral nation. Of course, if the trade was to be carried on by a United States citizen with a neutral citizen as an indirect means of trading with the German enemy, it would be unlawful, under the law of the United States as at present constituted, and would be a criminal transaction under the terms of the pending Trading with the Enemy bill.
I can not believe that it would be wise or just for this Government to assent to the proposition laid before you by the British Embassy.
Respectfully,