Mr. de Lövenörm to Mr. Bayard .
New London, Conn. , August 27, 1885. (Received August 31.)
Mr. Secretary of State: The attention of the Danish Government has been called to the fact that, under the provisions of section 14 of the act of June 26, 1884, a duty of 6 cents per ton at each entry, not to exceed in the aggregate 30 cents per ton per annum, is imposed upon vessels entered in the United States from Danish ports, whereas vessels entered from foreign ports or places in North America, Central America, the West India Islands, the Bermuda Islands, the Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland, are liable only to the payment of a duty of 3 cents per ton at each entry, not to exceed 15 cents per ton in any one year.
In Article I of the treaty concluded between Denmark and the United States April 26, 1826, the contracting parties engage mutually not to grant any particular favor to other nations in respect of commerce and navigation which shall not immediately become common to the other party, who shall enjoy the same freely, if the concession were freely made, or on allowing the same compensation, if the concession were conditional.
My Government being of opinion that, by virtue of the said article, Danish vessels entered in the United States from ports in Denmark, are justly entitled to enjoy the same privilege which has been granted by section 14 of the act of June 26, 1884, to vessels entered from ports in the countries therein enumerated, I have been instructed to make the request that the tax on such Danish vessels shall be collected, at their entrance in ports of the United States, at the rate of 3 cents per ton at each entry, not exceeding 15 cents per ton per annum, instead of, as heretofore, at the rate of 6 cents per ton, or 30 cents per ton per annum.
Section 14 of the above-named act further provides—
That the President of the United States shall suspend the collection of so much of the duty herein imposed on vessels entered from any port in the Dominion of Canada, Newfoundland, the Bahama Islands, the West India Islands, Mexico, and Central America down to and including Aspinwall and Panama, as may be in excess of the tonnage and light-house dues, or other equivalent tax or taxes, imposed on American vessels by the government of the foreign country in which such port is situated.
By a proclamation of January 31 last, the President, by virtue of the authority thus vested in him, has suspended the collection of the tax of 3 cents per ton as regards vessels arriving from certain ports in the Dominion of Canada, in the United States of Colombia, and others.
The Danish Government holds that, by virtue of Article I of the treaty of 1826, the conditional benefits granted, under the joint operation of the second part of section 14 of the act of 1884, and the said proclamation of the President, likewise inure to the advantage of Danish vessels entered from their national ports, so that if satisfactory proof be furnished that no tonnage and light-house dues or other equivalent taxes are collected from American vessels in Danish ports, or that less than 3 cents per ton are paid by such vessels, the collection of these [Page 363] taxes from Danish vessels in American ports should be either entirely suspended or proportionately reduced.
Not being prepared, however, to furnish such proof as yet, my Government, in directing me to make this statement, wishes to reserve this part of the question for a further communication, limiting itself, for the present, to the request I have had the honor to submit to you above with regard to the reduction of the rate of tonnage tax from 6 cents to 3 cents per ton.
I avail, &c.,