Another British contraband list

On 23 December 1914 the British government issued a proclamation that once again changed the lists of contraband of war. It replaced the lists published on 29 October, only two months earlier. The American Consul General in London, Robert Skinner, sending its text to Washington the next day, wrote of a list that had been “radically altered”.

Ingredients of explosives

The list of absolute contraband, that is goods that could be seized whenever they were bound for the enemy, even via a neutral port, grew from 26 to 29 items. The item on ingredients of explosives was the most expanded. Alongside nitric acid and sulphuric acid it now included, among other things, acetone, aniline, potassium nitrate, chlorates and perchlorates, mercury and the coal-tar fractions from benzol to cresol. Glycerine and sulphur, still treated as conditional contraband in October, were now moved to the absolute list.

Resins, camphor and turpentine were also a new item. The list further covered more of the metals needed to make high-grade steel, such as tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, cobalt and manganese, their ores and ferro-alloys. In October only nickel and chrome had been named from this group. Added too were zinc and lead ores, bauxite, alumina, antimony, semi-manufactured copper and copper wire, submarine sound-signalling apparatus and bicycle tyres. Rubber now also covered waste and reclaimed rubber, as well as goods made wholly of rubber.

The shorter list of conditional contraband, which could be detained only if destined for the enemy’s armed forces or government, had 13 items. It retained above all foodstuffs, fodder, clothing, gold and silver, vehicles other than motor vehicles, railway and telegraph material, fuel other than mineral oils, and hides. A separate proclamation issued the same day prohibited the export from Britain of explosives to all countries, and of ships and floating docks to countries other than British possessions.

The turpentine dispute

What caused most feeling in the United States was the inclusion of turpentine and rosin, products of the pine forests of the American South. On 22 December the British ambassador in Washington, Cecil Spring Rice, informed the Secretary of State, William Jennings Bryan, of the decision. Bryan replied on 24 December that he received it “with deep regret”. He recalled that on 1 November the ambassador himself had assured him that London did not intend to detain these goods, and that the State Department had passed this on to exporters. Some cargoes were already on their way to Europe. Bryan added that the growing restrictions on neutral trade had created “an acute situation” in the United States.

Spring Rice replied on 1 January 1915 that in November he had spoken only of the absence of any present intention, and had stipulated that the British government would not answer questions about individual goods. Since then, however, it had become clear, he wrote, that turpentine and rosin were of great importance in certain branches of war production. The ambassador pointed out that the right to add to the contraband lists was granted by the Declaration of London itself, and that the Americans had used it in their own wars. For cargoes shipped before the new list was announced, Britain would pay the full value.

Ever longer lists

The new lists irritated the Americans still further. Only three days later Washington sent Britain a firm note on the detention of American ships and cargoes. The British did not, however, back down on the new rules. The December list became the basis for further additions issued in 1915, and in March 1915 Britain decided to stop all goods going to and from Germany. For Germany, short of tungsten, nickel, copper and rubber, each new list meant ever greater difficulties in supplying its armaments industry.