Mr. Swift to Mr. Blaine.

No. 120.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your instruction No. 59, dated the 18th of March, containing your ruling upon the question raised by the correspondence and interview between myself and [Page 603] His Imperial Japanese Majesty’s minister for foreign affairs, touching the license and excise duty collected upon the article of American production known as “Scott’s Emulsion.”

As promptly as possible after receiving the instruction I caused a copy of the same to be made and forwarded, accompanied by a brief note and without comment, to His Excellency Viscount Aoki, since which time I have heard nothing further of the matter.

I have thought it advisable, under the circumstances, not to make immediate inquiry or allusion to the matter for the present, in the hope that in due time the objectionable ruling will be rescinded and the article quietly relieved of the tax, perhaps without immediate publicity.

I have, etc.,

John F. Swift.