Mr. Blaine to Mr. Sato.
Washington, March 18, 1890.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 7th instant, in explanation of the action of your Government in imposing taxes upon the sale in Japan of an American preparation or article of commerce known as “Scott’s Emulsion.”
At the date of the reception of your note the subject had been under consideration in the Department upon the report made by Mr. Swift of his correspondence with the Imperial Government. I have fully considered your note in connection with that report and correspondence, and regret to say that the arguments which you so earnestly and ably present to justify the action of the Japanese Government do not remove the impression created by that correspondence and by the ascertained facts, that the levying of the taxes in question is a direct violation of the treaties.
The Department has given the subject anxious consideration, and Mr. Swift has, in the usual course, been instructed to make a full communication of the views of this Government to the imperial minister for foreign affairs.
Accept, etc.,