No. 500.
Mr. Foster
to Mr. Frelinghuysen.
Madrid, July 23, 1883. (Received August 9.)
Sir: On the 19th instant the newspapers of this capital announced that on account of the appearance of cases of trichinosis at Malaga, the Spanish Government had, upon the advice of the royal board of health, decided to prohibit the importation of American and German pork products.
On the same day I called upon the minister of state and asked him if he could give me any information as to the correctness of this report. He answered that he had heard nothing of it, but recommended me to call upon his colleague, the minister of the interior (gobernacion), which I did on the same day. In the absence of that minister the subsecretary received me, who in reply to my inquiries stated that the royal board of health had recommended the prohibition referred to, but the minister of the interior had decided that it was only necessary to enjoin the enforcement of the royal order of July 10, 1880, which prescribed an inspection of pork and lard proceeding from the United States and Germany, and their destruction when found to contain trichinae. A copy and translation of the royal order of July 10, 1880, was sent to the Department with Mr. Fairchild’s No. 176, of July 16, 1881.
I improved the opportunity of my visit to explain somewhat in detail to the subsecretary, and to the chief of the sanitary bureau, who was present, the results of the investigations made under the direction of the Deparment of State, as contained in Mr. Scanlan’s report of 1881 (a copy of which had been left at the ministry by Mr. Reed some months ago), and the importance of this industry to our country. I was assured that the exclusion of American pork was not contemplated by that ministry, but only a reasonable inspection in view of the reported appearance of the disease at Malaga.
You will see by reference to Mr. Reed’s dispatch, No. 173, of February 28 last, that a similar report affecting American pork was started at [Page 787] Malaga at that time, but upon investigation it was found that the disease did not originate from the use of pork proceeding from the United States but from Spain itself. Information will be asked of the consul as to the cause of the recent alarm, and his report will be sent to you.
In view of the fact that telegrams from Madrid have appeared in the European press, giving a false report of the action of the Spanish Government, I deemed it proper in the interest of our exporters to send you a telegram this morning, as follows:
Importation of American pork not prohibited in Spain, as telegraphed to foreign press. Only inspection required, as reported in Fairchild’s number one-seventy-six.
I am, &c.,