File No. No. 763.72112/3972½

The Secretary of State to Mr. Jules Charmatz, New York City

Sir: The Department acknowledges the receipt of your letter of June 11, 1917,1 enclosing an advertisement which appeared in a Polish paper and a translation of the same.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In reply to the inquiry contained in your last paragraph the Department may invite your attention, in this relation, to the rules enunciated by the courts of the United States to the effect that all intercourse between residents of enemy countries is illegal; to the bill (H.R. 4704) with regard to trade with the enemy which is now pending before Congress; as bearing on this same general question to Moore’s International Law Digest, volume 7, page 237, et seq., and particularly to the following cases: Montgomery v. United States, 15 Wall. 395; Scholefield v. Eichelberger, 7 Pet. 586; Kershaw v. Kelsey, 100 Mass. 561.

It is the opinion of the Department that the transmission of funds from residents of this country to residents of territory under enemy occupation is illegal.

I am [etc.]

For the Secretary of State:
William Phillips

Assistant Secretary
  1. Not printed.