740.00112A European War, 1939/22491
The Secretary of State to the Minister in the Dominican Republic (Warren)
The Secretary of State refers to the Legation’s airgram no. A–262 of December 22, 19421 which stated, in reply to the Department’s inquiry concerning the Proclaimed List firm Compañía Comercial, C. por A.,2 that the Dominican Government has taken no action toward subjecting the property of enemy nationals to forced sale or vesting, and that Dominican officials have stated that such action is unnecessary and inadvisable. Reference in this connection is also made to the Legation’s despatch no. 416 of January 2, 1943,1 which stated that under present laws and decrees the Dominican Government has the power to vest the property of an enemy national or to subject it to forced sale.
[Page 281]While the Department concurred that the shortage of Dominican rice milling facilities should be the primary consideration in deciding whether to approve the measures necessary to enable the rice mill of the Compañía Comercial to operate for the processing of the current rice crop, it believes that approval of such measures under existing arrangements places this Government in the unsatisfactory position of agreeing that materials from this country shall assist or permit a firm’s operations, the profits from which will eventually be received in substantial part by undesirable persons.
Moreover, in view of the efforts being made to increase the production of rice in the Dominican Republic, it appears entirely possible that the best interests of the Dominican economy will require the employment of the facilities of the Compañía Comercial rice mill during the next rice harvest in June, and that this Government will again be requested to approve emergency measures which will include permission for United States materials to go forward to enable the mill to operate.
In view of these considerations, the Department believes that it is strongly desirable to find a permanent and satisfactory solution at the present time to the problem presented by the continuing Nottebohm–Grossart financial interests in the Compañía Comercial and the continued presence therein of Friedrich Rudolf Grossart.3 While not perhaps of such importance as the rice mill, the remaining property of the Compañía Comercial is of some value to the Dominican economy and a solution embracing all the assets of the Compañía would, therefore, appear to be advantageous to the Dominican Government.
In its despatch no. 1087 of April 27, 1942,4 the Legation outlined a plan providing for the vesting or forced sale of the Nottebohm-Grossart interests in the firm and the deletion of the Compañía Comercial’s name from the Proclaimed List. In describing its advantages, the despatch stated “the adoption of this plan would be beneficial since it would entirely eliminate from the firm the positively German elements. At the same time it would place control over the commercial activities of Rafael Lembcke, whose international political attitude is not well defined, and it would enable other members of the Lembcke family, against whom the Legation knows nothing prejudicial, to maintain their holdings in the Compañía Comercial without further loss due to its inclusion on the Proclaimed List. In addition the United States and British Governments would be removed from the paradoxical position of attempting to restrict the production of food products on land owned by the Compañía Comercial, when both are [Page 282] interested in the production of food crops. Furthermore, they would be removed from the position of attempting to restrict production on this land when they cannot successfully do so, thereby weakening the prestige and general effect of the Proclaimed List”5. These considerations are still applicable.
The Department will appreciate receiving a report as promptly as possible concerning the reasons for the statement of the Dominican officials that the vesting or forced sale of enemy interests in a case such as this is undesirable. The report should include a statement concerning each of the following points: (1) administrative difficulties which may be believed to lie in the way of satisfactory vesting; (2) the availability of private capital owned by desirable persons for the purchase of the Nottebohm-Grossart interests by forced sale; (3) the availability of a manager capable of replacing Friedrich Rudolf Grossart.