Mr. Sherman to Herr von Holleben.
Washington , February 11, 1898 .
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your note of the 4th instant, in which you kindly convey to me by means of a dated memorandum information in regard to the recent prohibition of the importation, under circumstances, of American fruit into Germany.
The subject had already been made the occasion of considerable telegraphic correspondence with the United States ambassador at Berlin, with a view to ascertaining the character of the restrictions which had been announced on the 1st instant and the modifications which had been made in the original order with a view to the relief of legitimate commerce from unnecessary embarrassments.
Your memorandum gave me timely information, of which I have availed myself in answering a resolution of the United States Senate calling for a statement of facts in this regard.
According to the latest advices from the United States ambassador at Berlin, the admission of uninfected fruit is proceeding as usual, and in only a few instances had consignments of apples been found to be infected with the San Jose scale insect. In view of the measures which have been taken in the fruit-raising States to check and destroy this pest, and the greater care which is necessarily exercised in selecting and preparing fruit for export, I am satisfied that only in exceptional cases will living specimens of the insect be found.
Accept, etc.,