Mr. Uhl to Mr.
Sherman.
Embassy
of the United States,
Berlin, March 15, 1897.
(Received April 2.)
No. 296.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt, on the 12th instant, of the Department’s instruction of the
1st, No. 323, and to inclose herewith a copy of a note to-day addressed
by me to the German foreign office, based upon the information contained
therein, in regard to the treatment of American woods on railways in
Germany under Government control. As for the reasons mentioned in my
note, the original papers submitted by the Austro-American Stave and
Lumber Company were transmitted to the foreign office, and in order to
save time no translations of these papers were made.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure in No. 296.]
Mr. Uhl to
Baron Marschall.
The undersigned, ambassador, etc., of the United States of America,
referring to his note of the 26th ultimo, F. O. No. 186, on the
subject of the alleged discrimination against American woods in the
freight tariff on railways in Germany under Government control, has
the honor to
[Page 244]
transmit
herewith, for the information of His Excellency Baron Marsehall von
Bieberstein, Imperial secretary of state for foreign affairs,
certain original papers, which are requested to be ultimately kindly
returned, which were sent to the United States State Department by
the Austro-American Stave and Lumber Company, of Shreveport, La.
Some of these papers have already been transmitted to the foreign
office, or referred to in former correspondence had by the embassy
on this subject, but it is now thought proper to submit them in
their present condition, as they constitute the case which the
company mentioned has put before the United States Government.
- No. 1 of these papers, the Continentale Jolz-Zeitung, refers
to the decrease of the American timber import and to the
petition of the stave consumers in Germany to the Prussian
minister of public works to abolish the difference in the
freight rates for American staves.
- No. 2, bill of lading for 12,500 kilograms American oak, shows
an excess charged of 8 marks per 10,000 kilograms, in comparison
to European oak.
- No, 3, bill of lading for 12,420 kilograms oak staves, rough
split, and so entered in the bill of lading, notwithstanding
which 31 marks were charged in addition to the exceptional
tariff rates.
- No. 4 is a copy of the judgment upon statement by experts in
the Royal Amtsgericht at Altona, by which the railway
authorities are ordered to refund the excess charges
collected.
- No. 5 is copy of the judgment in the court of appeal by which
the decision in the first court is reversed and judgment given
against the plaintiff by the Royal Laudgericht at Altona.
- No. 6 is apparently wanting, but is referred to by the stave
company in its letter to the State Department as the decision of
the Amtsgericht at Dortmund against the railway
authorities.
- No. 7 is the opinion of the Forstmeister Jentsch about
American timber.
- No. 8 is the opinion of certain “Handlskommer” in regard to
the use of American timber.
- No. 9 is the decision of the Landgericht at Dortmund reversing
the decision referred to as No. 6.
- No. 10 is the opinion of the cooperage firm of M. B.
Bodenheim, of Cassel.
- No. 11 is a letter from the lawyer, Dr. B. L. Oppenheimer, of
Hamburg, to Mr. Max Grünhut, of the same place, containing
advice as to further legal proceedings.
From these and other papers, already submitted, it seems clearly to
be shown that the opinions of experts and the decisions of the
courts of first instance agree in regard to the similarity in the
nature, and the uses to which they are applied, of American and
European oak, and in the opinion also that there is very little, if
any, difference in their value. The undersigned therefore ventures
to express the hope that, as by far the greater part of the railways
in Germany are under the control of the Government, and as the
determination of freight charges is to a great extent an
administrative act, it will be found possible to so interpret the
freight tariff in this connection that the causes for complaint may
soon be removed.
The undersigned avails himself, etc.,
