No. 864.
Mr. Bayard to Mr. Romero.
Washington, March 24, 1888.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 19th instant, in which, with reference to the question of the passage of the frontier line by grazing cattle belonging to citizens of either country, and to the proposal made in the Senate of the United States, May 5, 1886, for an arrangement between the United States and Mexico to prevent friction in this regard, you inform me of a recent case in the district of Mier, Tamaulipas, where several yearling calves belonging to Trinidad Barrera, a Mexican citizen, which had strayed into Texan territory to feed, were held for duties by the United States customs authorities at Roma, Texas, and the return of the calves to their owner, for re conveyance to Mexico was not permitted until bond was given for the payment of import duties, to await the decision of the Secretary of the Treasury in the premises.
As this incident touches a pending decision of the Secretary of the Treasury, I have deemed it proper to communicate a copy of your note to my colleague, suggesting to him that the questions involved may be examined in the light of the bona fides of the owner of the calves in question, and that any proof of absence of intent on his part to bring the calves into the United States may be duly appreciated in reaching an equitable conclusion. It would doubtless aid a favorable decision if I were enabled to inform the Secretary of the Treasury that were the case reversed the customs laws and regulations of Mexico would not subject to import duties cattle straying, under the circumstances you mention, from the territory of the United States into Mexico.
Your note goes on to say that in this incident of Señor Barrera’s yearlings you find demonstration of the need of an arrangement between the two Governments, or of legislative measures, touching the passage and return of grazing cattle on the border, and in this relation you advert to the insufficiency, in your judgment, of a bill now pending in the [Page 1290] United States Senate which provides “that cattle belonging to citizens of this country which may have passed over into Mexico to graze shall on their return to the territory of the United States not be subject to customs duties” and recommend the further provision “that neither shall the introduction of Mexican cattle which may cross over into the United States to graze render them liable to duties.”
I shall take an early occasion to communicate copy of your note to the Committee on Finance, to which Senate bill No. 2034 was referred on the 25th ultimo, and it would give me much pleasure to inform the committee that a rule similar to that which you suggest prevails on the Mexican side, or would be adopted there by way of equitable reciprocity, if the Congress of the United States should take action in that sense.
Recurring, however, to the proposal contained in Senate resolution of May 5, 1886, to which you refer, I beg to express my willingness to compare views with you touching a formal arrangement between the two Governments to meet the case.
The object being to facilitate the return of stray cattle from either side of the frontier line, and at the same time prevent indiscriminate pasturage of Mexican and American cattle on either side of the boundary, or reciprocal agreement whereby such straying cattle may be restored within a reasonable time to owners domiciled in the country from which they stray on simple proof of such domicile and ownership and of the fact of straying, would suffice to meet the case. It would, however, require the adoption of identical or similar legislation by the two countries, and to this end the arrangement might take the form of a diplomatic understanding, by exchange of notes or formal protocol, to be referred to the respective Congresses for legislative action, the agreement to become effective on the exchange of notification that such legislation had been adopted. I shall be pleased to consider any detailed plan you may submit to me with this object, or any further views on the subject you may deem it expedient to offer to me.
Accept, etc.,