852.6363/159a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Spain (Hammond)
67. Paris’s 338, November 1, 2 p.m., to the Department. Counselor of the French Embassy called at this Department December 4 and left a memorandum47 stating that French Ambassador at Madrid had been instructed to ask the Spanish Government to submit to an arbitration the questions arising out of the application of the oil monopoly in Spain and among them: (1) Indemnity for the goodwill of three French companies, (2) indemnity for the assets of one Company, (3) indemnity for French employees deprived of their situation, (4) payment of indemnity on a gold basis, (5) exoneration of taxes on the liquidation of oil companies.
The memorandum added that the French Government would attach the greatest importance to the American Ambassador in Madrid receiving similar instructions from the Department of State. The Department is in consultation with the Standard Oil on this matter which is instructing its Madrid representative to discuss the situation with you. The Department would appreciate your comments and recommendations in the matter before further defining its position [Page 877] with regard to arbitration and would be particularly interested to have the text of the French note asking for arbitration or at least to be advised as to the basis upon which the French Government is making its request.
Please mail cipher copies to London and Paris.
- Not printed.↩