No. 15.
Mr. von Alvensleben to Mr. Bayard.
Washington, August 1, 1886. (Received August 2.)
Mr. Secretary of State:
I had the honor duly to receive your note of the 4th of March last, whereby you informed me that my observations concerning the applicability of the most favored nation clause to section 14 of the act of Congress of June 26, 1884, would be taken into consideration, and in which, for the time being, you confined yourself, by way of reply, to one remark.
In the mean time an act of Congress entitled “An act to abolish certain fees for official services to American vessels, and to amend the laws relating to shipping commissioners, seamen, and owners of vessels, and for other purposes,” has been approved by the President of the United States under date of June 19, 1886 (Public—No. 85), and has thereby become a law. I have brought this act to the notice of the Imperial Government and have been instructed to state the view taken by that Government of this latest law and to ask your attention to its incompatibility with the stipulations of the treaty existing between Germany and the United States.
This act extends, in a measure, the power conferred upon the President by section 14 of the act of June 26, 1884, to diminish tonnage dues in certain cases.
According to the act of 1884 the President was authorized, only in the case of vessels coming from the ports of N orth and Central America, the West Indies, the Bahama, Bermuda, and Sandwich Islands, or Newfoundland, and entering ports of the United States, to reduce the duty of 3 cents per ton, which was imposed on such vessels, provided that the said duty exceeded the dues which American vessels were obliged to pay in the aforesaid ports.
A reduction of the duty of 6 cents, to which all vessels coming from other ports were subjected, was not allowable, even on the supposition in question.
Vessels from the aforesaid favored ports thus enjoyed a special preference in two ways: In the first place, they paid in all cases a duty of but 3 cents per ton, while vessels from other ports were obliged to pay 6 cents per ton; even these 3 cents could bo remitted, either in whole or in part, provided that it could be shown that the duty paid by American vessels in the ports concerned amounted to less than 3 cents per ton, or that no such duty was levied in said ports. This latter privilege is, according to the new law, no longer to be exclusively enjoyed by vessels from the favored ports.
Likewise, vessels from other than the most favored ports may obtain a reduction or return of the duty of 6 cents to be paid by them per ton, provided that in the ports from which they have come American vessels pay less than 6 cents or no tonnage duty at all. The amount of the duty to be remitted is computed according to the amount of the duties levied in the ports of departure.
The new law is evidently based upon the idea of reciprocity. If this idea had been consistently carried out no objection could be made to it and the Imperial Government would have no further ground of complaint. [Page 1878] This, however, is not the case, inasmuch as the new law grants special privileges, as did the old, to vessels from the above-mentioned ports, declaring that they, without any compensation on their part, shall pay but 3 cents per ton, even though a duty in excess of that amount is paid by American vessels in the ports concerned. The number of favored ports is even extended to those of South America bordering on the Caribbean Sea.
The Imperial Government has from the outset protested against this one sided privilege, which is in violation of the treaty stipulations of Germany with the United States. Since this privilege is not only not abolished by the new law, but is confirmed and even still further extended, the original attitude assumed by the Imperial Government towards the old law has been in no wise changed by the new act, and the Imperial Government must continue to protest against the violations of its treaty rights while maintaining the arguments contained in my note of February 15, 1886. As long as vessels from the ports of North and Central America pay but one-half the tonnage duty that is levied upon vessels from German ports, without being required to furnish proof that less than 6 cents is exacted from American vessels in their ports, the Imperial Government will be obliged to maintain its claim for similar usage, viz, the exemption from furnishing such proof.
As is stated in my note of February 15, 1886, the Imperial Government is unable to regard as conclusive your principal argument, viz, that the privilege in question is of a purely geographical character, because the effect of this privilege is to benefit, in point of fact, the entire trade and navigation of those countries in which the ports in question aro situated. No paramount importance can be attached (as is done by the United States Government) to the mere form in which this privilege is granted to particular countries.
I am therefore instructed, on tha ground of the treaty right pertaining to the Imperial Government, to reiterate its previous claim that German ports shall be placed on a footing precisely similar to that of North and Central American ports, etc., and most respectfully to request you, Mr. Secretary of State, to favor me with the further reply which, in your note of March 4, you gave me to understand that I might expect from you.
Accept, etc.,