352.115/79: Telegram
The Consul General at Barcelona (Perkins) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:10 p.m.]
I am receiving requests from Americans who have left Spain to take custody of their accounts in local banks and in some cases to remit funds abroad. There is doubtless ground for apprehension that such accounts might be seized. However, in my opinion, storage pesetas in the Consulate General would invite robbery and might expose us to the suspicion that we contemplated illegal export of money from the country. In certain cases we have without responsibility taken custody of personal property but I do not think we should assume the risks involved thereafter becoming a depository for these accounts. I purpose declining to comply with such requests. Department’s approval is requested.31
Attention is invited to the Department’s September 9, 6 p.m.32 as having a general bearing on the question.
- By telegram September 14, 5 p.m., the Department conveyed its approval of his proposed action (352.115/89).↩
- Not printed; it authorized the Consul General to accept custody of American-owned shares of the Boston Blacking Co., a subsidiary of the U. S. Shoe Machinery Corp., “upon the understanding that neither the Department nor the Consulate General assume thereby any responsibility for actual safe keeping or ultimate safe delivery of such shares.” (352.115 U. S. Shoe Machinery Corp./13.)↩