Office of the Historian

681.003/131: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Bowers)

Washington, January 16, 1935—6 p.m.

4. Your 6, January 14, 3 p.m. We assume that the formula suggested by Blake takes care of the special taxes on imported goods as outlined in Blake’s 943, May 31,6 and in your 559, November 137 and alluded to in first paragraph of Department’s 65, December 15.8

With respect to paragraph 5, your 6, January 14, Department in its recent instructions has made no reference to question of surrender of capitulations, and it should be clearly understood that this question does not enter into the present discussions. For your information Great Britain and the United States are in accord regarding the surrender of extraterritorial rights. Neither are any new accords relating to Morocco contemplated by this Government at this time other than the formal recognition of the Spanish Protectorate in the event a satisfactory agreement can be reached with the Spanish Government.

Please endeavor to ascertain informally whether the Spanish have entered into any agreement with the French or with the British regarding modification of the customs regime in Morocco and obtain if possible, a clear definition of their attitude and intentions advising Department by cable of any developments.

Hull
  1. Foreign Relations, 1934, vol. ii, p. 839.↩
  2. Ibid., p. 857.↩
  3. Ibid., p. 874.↩