893.113/261a
The Secretary of State to the Secretary of the Treasury (Mellon)
Sir: With further reference to the President’s proclamation of March 4th placing an embargo upon the exportation of arms and munitions of war to China, and also to my letter of April 4 on the same subject,63 I have the honor to state that it is the view of this [Page 729] Department that, in order to make possible the control over the export of military airplanes and over airplanes which, although constructed for commercial purposes, may be shipped under circumstances indicating a probability of their conversion to military uses, airplanes and their equipment, when consigned to China, should be deemed to be included in the term “munitions of war” as used in the Proclamation of the President. No shipments of aeronautical material or equipment should therefore be allowed to leave ports of the United States for China except upon permits duly issued by the Department of State.
I have [etc.]
Assistant Secretary
- Not printed.↩