Office of the Historian

121.5755/4

The Ambassador in Belgium (Phillips) to the Secretary of State

[Extract]
Brussels, June 17, 1925.
[Received June 29.]
No. 240

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge Instruction No. 128 of April 21, 1925,54 directing me to inform the Foreign Office that certain Customs Attachés had been attached to American Diplomatic Missions. Pursuant to this Instruction, by note dated May 12, I informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the appointment of Mr. S. E. Armstrong as Customs Attaché, and of Mr. Edgar M. Barber, Mr. Henry M. Clapp and Mr. Paul H. Watson as Assistant Customs Attachés in Brussels. I requested the Belgian Government to grant recognition to these officials in their respective capacities, and in my note to the Foreign Office I set forth the duties of these attachés in general as indicated in the Department’s Instruction No. 128.

[Page 236]

I have now received a reply to my representation, dated June 15, 1925, a copy and translation of which I am transmitting herewith.57 The Minister of Foreign Affairs informs me in his reply that, although the Belgian Government is animated by a most sincere desire to facilitate as much as possible the application of the provisions of the American law, and that a better knowledge of the provisions of the American customs regulations could only exercise a favorable influence on the development of the economic relations between the two countries, it does not find that the activity of the Customs Attachés comes within the limits defined by international practice as to the role of the personnel of Embassies and Legations. The Minister indicates that these customs officials might more appropriately be attached to the Consulate, as the work they carry on would seem to come under the sphere of the Consulate. The Minister further points out in his note that the Belgian Government itself has not the power by law to direct investigations of cost of production in enterprise, and therefore is unable to grant permission, either general or specific, with regard to such investigations by American officials.

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

I have [etc.]

William Phillips
  1. See footnote 41, p. 227.↩
  2. Not printed.↩