William G. McAdoo to Woodrow Wilson

I have the honor to invite your attention to the various provisions of the Act approved by you on June 15th last, commonly known as the “Espionage Act,” with particular reference to those parts relating to the movements of vessels and the control of exports.
Section 1 of Title II authorizes the Secretary of the Treasury to make, subject to your approval, rules and regulations governing the anchorage and movements of vessels in United States territorial waters and under certain conditions to take possession and control of such vessels. Title VII, relating to the control of exports, provides that Collectors of Customs shall under certain conditions refuse clearance of vessels, subject to review by the Secretary of Commerce.
Whatever the machinery created for this purpose may be, it is certain that the actual physical control of exports must be exercised by Collectors of Customs and their subordinates, who are officers of the Treasury Department. There are numerous activities relating to or connected with the departure of ships now being carried on by customs officers, under this Department's directions and at the instance of the various executive departments, but not directly affecting the clearance of vessels. To illustrate: At the request of the Department of State customs officers, acting on instructions of this Department, have been for some time past preventing the departure of persons from the United States without passports. The issuance of these instructions necessarily involved a control of outgoing vessels. Also, upon the request of the Department of Justice made through this Department, customs officers have frequently detained vessels and searched the same.
For the reasons outlined in my letter of June 2d, I think it is essential to efficient administration that the Treasury Department be represented on any Board that may be appointed to administer the issuance of export licenses and that all instructions should issue to customs officers from the Treasury Department, just as the Treasury Department has issued instructions to Collectors of Customs during the past two or three years at the request of the Departments of State and of Justice relating to matters within the jurisdiction of those Departments.
I hope that you will give me an opportunity to confer with you with reference to this matter before a final decision is reached.Secretary.The President: