Mr. Partridge to Mr. Gresham.
Caracas, March 8, 1893. (Received March 22.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Department’s instruction No. 5, of the 8th ultimo, relative to a decree of the Venezuelan Government, dated December 30 last, imposing from the 1st instant a differential duty of 30 per cent on merchandise from the United States or Europe, transferred at Curaçao for the western ports of the Republic.
By the Venezuelan law of June 4, 1881 (see Foreign Relations, 1882, p. 524) a differential duty of 30 per cent was imposed upon “produce, merchandise, and chattels proceeding from foreign colonies and imported through the ports of entry of the Republic, as well as those proceeding from the ports of Europe or the United States of North America, destined for Venezuela and transshipped in said colonies into other vessels which are to bring them to this country.”
Upon the earnest representations of this legation, this law was finally modified by a decree of the President and federal council, dated January 26, 1883 (see Foreign Relations, 1883, p. 900), so that it became inoperative with respect to shipments originating in the United States or Europe and simply transshipped in a foreign colony. The law remained in full force, however, with respect to shipments originating in such colonies. Since that decree, until the first of the present month, the Red D Line, an American corporation of Wilmington, Deb, have [Page 719] maintained a line of steamers between Maraeaibo and Coro and the Dutch island of Curaçao, connecting there with their main line of steamers between New York and Curaçao, Puerto Cabelio, and La-Guayra. The steamers of the main line are of too deep draft to pass the bar at the mouth of Lake Maraeaibo, where there is only 10 or 11 feet of water. The conveniences for transfer at Curaçao are very good. Labor can be employed day and night, and in case ships do not meet, the steamship company have sufficient warehouses on the docks for storing goods.
The decree of December 30, 1892, reported, in Mr. Bartleman’s dispatch No. 375, of January 6, places goods shipped from the United States or Europe and transshipped at Curaçao in the same category as if originally exported from that island. The supplementary decree of January 5, reported in the same dispatch, provides that goods which are destined for the western ports of the Republic, i. e., Maraeaibo and Coro, and are to be transshipped at La Guayra or Puerto Cabelio, may, in case such transshipment can not be effected directly from ship to ship, be landed and deposited in the stores of the customhouse until they can be sent to their destination, which is permitted to be done in either national or foreign vessels. The principal object of these decrees probably was to injure the port of Curaçao, which, it is alleged, is used as a base for smuggling into Venezuela and as a rendezvous for Venezuelan political malcontents. At the same time it was very likely expected that the Red D Line would be compelled to transfer Maracaibo and Coro freight at Puerto Cabelio, thus giving the latter port the benefit of the transshipment business. But the agents of the company here claim that there are not sufficient facilities for transfer at Puerto Cabelio; that the company has no warehouses; that the custom-house storerooms are insufficient and unsatisfactory, and that labor is high and can only be employed, under the custom-house regulations, between the hours of 7 and 10 a.m. and 12 and 4 p.m. The first of the present month, therefore, the company began to run the Maracaibo, one of the steamships previously employed in the branch service, direct from Maracaibo to New York. She will probably call also at Coro, although the Coro business is very small. The English steamship Hollinside has been chartered for the same service.
Although I do not think that they were so intended, the present decrees are especially discriminatory against the United States. The law of June 4, 1881, until modified in 1883, discriminated against transshipment at any West Indian port and affected European as well as American commerce. The present decree, however, simply discriminates against transshipment at Curaçao and, practically, affects only the commerce of the United States. I am informed that the Royal Mail (English) transfer freight at the Barbados for La Guayra, that the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique (French) and other lines transfer at Trinidad for Ciudad Bolivar, and that the Compañia General Transatlantica (Spanish) transfer at Havana for La Guayra and Puerto Cabello. In addition, therefore, to the considerations which were urged during the discussion between the two governments in 1882 and 1883 (reported in the Foreign Relations of those years) against the transfer feature of the law of June 4, 1881, there may now be assigned also the invidious distinction above.
I believe that any representations by the legation would promise better results after the new minister of finance has had an opportunity to become more fully established in office; it seemed to me more prudent to delay making any protest for a short time. I shall, however, watch [Page 720] the matter carefully and, unless you instruct me otherwise, I will, if necessary, later make proper representation to the minister of foreign affairs with respect thereto.
Trusting that my action in the premises may meet with your approval,
I have, etc.,