Mr. White to Mr. Sherman.
Berlin, March 31, 1898.
Sir: Referring to my dispatch, No. 338, of the 17th instant, I have the honor to inform you that having seen newspaper notices of a new order of the Prussian minister of finance in regard to the examination of American fruit waste (cores and skins) imported into Germany, the embassy addressed a letter on the 28th instant to Consul Pettit, at Dusseldorf, whose cooperation in this whole matter has been very efficient, asking him to report upon the same. The orders issued by the minister to the frontier customs officials are not regularly published in any official paper and some of them are not published at all. Consequently it is difficult to keep track of them, as the embassy can obtain information as to their very existence only after they have become the subject of comment in the local press, or after complaint is made to it in regard to them, either to it directly or through some consulate.
On the 30th instant, after receiving Mr. Pettit’s report, he also having only just had his attention called to the order in question, the embassy telegraphed you as follows:
Application of new inspection order practically prohibits the importation of fruit (evaporated) skins and cores.
Consul Pettit reported that he had been unable to obtain a copy of the new order, which was dated the 16th instant, but that there was no doubt that it forbids the free entry of waste unless the same is so dry and brittle that the parts can be ground into powder by rubbing in the hands, this test being required to decide whether the goods are to be permitted to enter or whether they shall be subjected to a microscopic examination. As, if the waste were as dry as required it would be worthless to the jelly makers, the new order practically requires that all waste be examined, necessitating unloading at the frontier customs stations. On this account the Rhine navigation companies refuse to accept waste at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and Antwerp, and as the freight rates by rail are much higher than those by water, the fruit men say that they could not make a profit if they must pay for unloading the goods at the frontier and for storing them pending examination.
Representatives of New York shippers have made complaints to the embassy in the matter, and others have addressed the Government officials, it is understood, directly on the point, and it has been proposed that the Germans consent to an examination of the waste at Rotterdam, the port at which most of it is unloaded from the ocean steamers, or that samples might be taken from the barrels there and examined in Germany. At the foreign office, this morning, Mr. Jackson was unable to obtain any definite information, a written communication on the subject being promised within a few days, and at the ministry of finance he was unable to secure a copy of the order referred to, although he was told enough in regard to it to show that Mr. Pettit’s idea of its significance was correct.
I shall continue to give serious attention to this matter, and, in case the promised note from the foreign office is not soon forthcoming, will cause renewed representations to be made.
I am, etc.,