No. 344.
Mr. Carter to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Sir: I have observed in the public prints the statement that the honorable Secretary of the Treasury had appointed some persons to investigate at the ports of San Francisco and Portland, Oreg., into the truth of the charges that Hawaiian sugars had been entered free of duty into those ports of grades other than those entitled to free admission under the reciprocity treaty between the United States and the Hawaiian Kingdom.
There were, however, other charges made before the Congressional committees regarding the operation of that treaty which would hardly come within the scope of such an investigation, and would probably require and involve visiting the Hawaiian Islands.
I refer to the charges that the increase of the production of sugar in the Hawaiian Islands could not have been large enough to account for the increased importation into this country of Hawaiian sugars, and that such importations were augmented by sugars produced in other countries and sent to the Hawaiian Islands for the purpose of fraudulent entry as Hawaiian sugars into the ports of the United States, and that such frauds had been sanctioned by Hawaiian and American officials in the islands; also, that improved machinery had been introduced into the Hawaiian Islands since the conclusion of the treaty for the purpose of making improved grades of sugar, and that previous to the treaty (A. D. 1875) none but drained and clayed sugars were made in Hawaii, of which the average grades were from No. 7 to No. 10 D. S. (See notes of hearings before the Committee on Foreign Affairs on bill H. B. 2924, February 10 to March 6, 1883.)
With reference to these charges, some of which have, I believe, been formerly examined into by the United States legation in Hawaii, I beg to say, that if the honorable Secretary of the Treasury desires to extend the scope of the investigation to be instituted by him beyond examining into the acts of the officials of his Department at the ports of San Francisco and Portland to cover the matters involved in the other charges, the Hawaiian Government will most cordially give every facility for a thorough investigation by the special agents of the Treasury, or by any other persons whom the United States Government may desire to charge with the duty of such investigation, and I hope that they may deem the matter of sufficient importance to warrant an inquiry which I am confident will result in completely disproving the charges alluded to.
With renewed assmances, &c.,