Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 5, 1898
Mr. Adee to Mr. White.
Washington, September 21, 1898.
Sir: Referring to previous correspondence relative to the action of the German Government in prohibiting the importation of American unpeeled dried fruit into Germany, I inclose for your information copy of an instruction to our minister at Berne based upon Swiss legislation similar to that of Germany.
You are requested to press the views contained in the Department’s instruction to Mr. Leishman upon the German Government, and to invite the like suggested remedy.
Respectfully, yours,
Acting Secretary.
Mr. Day to Mr. Leishman.
Washington, September 16, 1898.
Sir: I inclose for your information copy of correspondence, as indicated below, relative to the recent legislation by the Swiss Government prohibiting the importation of American unpeeled dried fruits into Switzerland.
The action of Germany, which initiated the prohibitive movement afterwards adopted by Switzerland, is said to have rested on the discovery of living specimens of the San Jose scale insect on the skin of American dried fruit imported into Germany. The truth of the newspaper rumor to this effect has never been ascertained, and this Government [Page 339] is wholly without any particulars of the alleged discovery. It would seem most desirable to establish the presence of the living scale insect upon the dried fruit under such circumstances as to prove the identity of the insect and its vitality, as well as to exclude the possibility of its having been adventitiously transferred from some other transient habitat (such as fruit-tree packings, moss, straw, and the like) during the journey. The character of the packings of the dried fruit; the position of the insect, whether on the outer surface of the package or embedded in the mass; the fact whether the fruit was sun dried or “evaporated;” the locality where it was raised, cured, and packed for export, are all essential premises, a knowledge of which is necessary to form a judgment as to the danger involved in the admission of such unpeeled sun-dried fruit. Even were the actual presence of living insects under the alleged circumstances fully established, there would yet remain to be evolved some tangible theory of ordinary transmission of the scale from the dried fruit in which it may be packed to fruit orchards in the vicinity. The female scale insect being in all stages of existence apterous, it could only be conveyed from the dealers’ shops, the consumers’ kitchens, or the distillers’ and manufacturers’ vats to the trees by actual transportation, and the way this is to be effected is not obvious. Unpeeled dried fruit is consumed or subjected to domestic or industrial change without removing the peels, oftenest being boiled so that there is no unsterilized waste to be thrown on the compost heap. The “fruit waste” containing skins goes to the vat of the distiller or the cauldron of the maker of fruit conserves, where heat at once destroys the vitality of any germ it may contain. The danger of the dissemination of the scale pest in the fruit growing country, by means of unpeeled dried fruit, is so remote as to be virtually chimerical, so that this Government is justified in deprecating with all due earnestness the spirit which tends to discover imminent and fatal peril to the fruit industries of another country from this source, and to paralyze important branches of trade by abrupt and impulsive legislation based upon imperfectly ascertained facts or upon unproven conjecture.
However this may be, and granting, for argument’s sake, that living specimens of the true San Jose scale may have been found on the rind of imperfectly sun-dried fruit, there can be no logical ground for condemning sterilized sun-cured fruit simply because it happens to have the skin remaining upon it. It is not the presence of the fruit skins that affords the sound test for prohibitory legislation, but the conditions under which the fruit itself is cured and packed. You are instructed to impress this view of the matter strongly upon the Swiss Government, and, adopting the suggestion of the Agricultural Department’s expert observers, you will endeavor in all fairness to procure the removal of evaporated fruits from the prohibited category, and also to secure the admission of sun-dried fruits which have been sterilized in the ways described in the acting pomologist’s report, or in any other equally effective manner, before packing.
Respectfully, yours,
Mr. Wilson to Mr. Day.
Office of the Secretary,
Washington, D. C., September 8, 1898.
Sir: I am in receipt of your communications of the 29th of August and the 6th of September, with inclosures from E. A. Storey, of Geneva, Switzerland; Messrs. [Page 340] Hartwig & Bennett, of New York, and J. R. Filcher, secretary of the California State Board of Trade, San Francisco, relating to recent legislation of the Swiss Government prohibiting the importation of American unpeeled dried fruits into Switzerland.
I have referred the matters involved to the Pomological and Entomological divisions of this Department, and inclose with this the reports of the chiefs of these divisions. From these reports it appears that the Swiss ruling is unjustified, and that, in justice to the dried-fruit exporting interests of this country, a strong effort should be made by your Department to secure the abolition or modification of the Swiss legislation.
I am, sir, etc.,
Mr. Taylor to Mr. Wilson.
Division of Pomology,
Washington, D. C., September 7, 1898.
Sir: In relation to the communication from the Acting Secretary of State bearing date of the 29th ultimo, with inclosures from E A. Storey, Geneva, Switzerland, and Messrs. Hartwig & Bennett, New York, calling attention of the Department of State to recent legislation of the Swiss Government which prohibits the importation of American unpeeled fruit into Switzerland, and the letter of the Acting Secretary of State of the 6th instant, with inclosure from J. R. Filcher, secretary of California State Board of Trade, San Francisco, relating to the same subject, I would report as follows:
Under this enactment it would appear that all American unpeeled, sun-dried, or evaporated fruits are denied entrance to Switzerland. This practically shuts out all American sun-dried or evaporated plums, prunes, apricots, nectarines, cherries, raisins, and berries, all of which fruits are commonly dried without being peeled, as well as evaporated apple “chops” and “skins,” which are largely exported to European countries. It also affects the trade in both sun-dried and evaporated peaches, of which only a part of the product consists of peeled fruit.
The avowed intention of the prohibition, according to press reports, is to prevent the introduction of San Jose scale on such fruits.
In the absence of any recorded instance where this scale has been introduced to any fruit region through the agency of infested fresh fruit, the prohibition of the importation of the dried product seems unnecessarily severe. All American sun-dried fruits are subjected to a high temperature in the open air for several days during the drying process, and it is very doubtful whether the scale could long survive such treatment. If there is any doubt concerning such fruit it could easily be removed by requiring that all sun-dried fruits should be sterilized before packing by being heated in a fruit evaporator to a temperature to be agreed upon by test for such length of time as would be sufficient to destroy all living scales if such were present.
In so far as it relates to evaporated fruits, the prohibition is entirely unnecessary. In the evaporating process the fruit is subjected to a temperature of 150° to 200° F. for several hours, usually twelve or more. In the case of apricots, peaches, and pears the fruit is subjected to the fumes of burning sulphur for from thirty to sixty minutes before being placed in the evaporator. In California the same treatment is applied to fruits that are afterwards dried in the sun. while in all prune-growing districts of the United States the fruit is dipped in hot lye to check the skin and hasten the drying process. This treatment undoubtedly destroys the life of any scale that may be upon the fruit.
In view of these facts, which are capable of the most complete substantiation by observation in the portions of the United States which produce the dried and evaporated fruits mentioned, it is my opinion that a strong protest should be made by the Department of State against the continuance of the above-mentioned prohibitive legislation. As it now stands it unnecessarily and unjustly restricts legitimate trade in an important pomological product.
Very respectfully,
Mr. Howard to Mr. Wilson.
Division of Entomology,
Washington, D. C., September 8, 1898.
Sir: I have read the accompanying communications from the Hon. J. B. Moore, Acting Secretary of State, dated August 29 and September 6, with inclosures from E. A. Storey, of Geneva, Switzerland; Messrs. Hartwig & Bennett, of New York, and J. R. Filcher, secretary of the California State Board of Trade, San Francisco, relative to the action of the Swiss Government in prohibiting the importation of American unpeeled fruit into Switzerland. I have also read the communication of the acting pomologist, which also accompanies.
From an intimate acquaintance with the habits and life history of the San Jose scale, extending now over a period of nineteen years or ever since it was first discovered in the United States, I can with confidence state that, in my opinion, the Swiss legislation works an entirely unnecessary hardship upon American exporters of dried fruits. With regard to evaporated fruits, the prohibition is ludicrously unnecessary. With regard to sun-dried fruits, it is my strong belief that it is equally unnecessary.
I have seen the newspaper statement to the effect that the San Jose scale in living condition has been found upon the skin of American dried fruit imported into Germany, but firmly believe that this is a misstatement, and am of the opinion that the State Department would be perfectly justified in any endeavor to secure a modification of the Swiss ruling, and would indorse the suggestion of the acting pomologist that in case it should be found that it is impossible to secure the entire abolition of the ruling, in all fairness efforts should be made to remove the evaporated fruits from the prohibited category and to secure the admission of sun-dried fruits which have been sterilized before packing.
Respectfully, yours,