No. 102.
Mr. Bayard
to Mr. Hall.
Washington, August 12, 1887.
Sir: I have received your No. 691, of the 22d ultimo, relative to an additional contract between the Government of Salvador and the agents of a line of Spanish steamers to ply between San Francisco and Panama, signed June 14, 1887, the apparent effect of which would be to defeat the present treaty stipulations between the United States and Salvador in respect to the equal treatment of American vessels in the ports of that country.
Instead of giving a rebate on customs duties directly to importers by the Spanish steamers, as was proposed in the former contract which was rejected by the Salvadorian legislature on the ground of its conflict with the treaty stipulations with the United States, it is now proposed to charge full duties, but to furnish the company with notes or certificates entitling the holder to a rebate of 3 per cent. of the customs duties on goods shipped by the company’s steamers.
This plan not only appears to present the same objections, in substance, if not in form, as those that led to the rejection by the legislature of Salvador of the former contract with the Spanish company, but it follows closely, if not precisely, the plan of the Mexican Government, of which you are already advised, and of which this Department complained as being a discrimination against American vessels. With Salvador, however, our position is strengthened by treaty obligations which do not exist in the case of Mexico, and which, in the judgment of the Department, clearly forbid such discrimination by Salvador as that contemplated in the contract in question. For, while the issuance of such certificates is not in terms forbidden by the treaty, their effect would be to work an actual discrimination against our flag and thus destroy the reciprocal equality of treatment which the contracting parties intended to secure.
I have, therefore, to approve your protest to the Government of Salvador, through Mr. Du Pré, consul there, and will thank you to keep the Department advised of all that transpires, and to take such further action, through just and proper remonstrance to that Government, as will insure the fullest compliance with treaty obligations and secure to our citizens the amplest measure of their rights thereunder.
I am, etc.,