Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, With the Annual Message of the President Transmitted to Congress December 2, 1902
Mr. Hay to Mr. Leishman.
Washington , April 25, 1902 .
Sir: I inclose herewith for your information an extract from a letter dated Constantinople, March 24, 1902, from Messrs. J. C. Whittall & Co., the managers for Turkey for the New York Life Insurance Company, to Mr. Joseph J. Hearns, the company’s superintendent of agencies, Paris, in relation to the difficulties experienced by the company during the past two years in carrying on its business in the provinces of Turkey, owing to the obstruction and prohibition of the Turkish Government.
[Page 1027]Messrs. Whittall & Co.’s letter is one of the inclosures to a letter dated the 29th ultimo from Mr. Hearns to Mr. William E. Ingersoll, the company’s general manager for Europe, which was left at the Department on the 14th instant by Mr. John A. McCall, president of the company.
I also inclose a copy of a letter from Mr. Ingersoll to the Department, dated the 17th instant, with four inclosures on the same subject.
The Department would like to receive a report from you upon the subject.
If you think it opportune to do so, you will press upon the Ottoman Government the granting of larger privileges to American insurance companies.
I am, etc.,
Messrs. Whittall & Co. to Mr. Hearns.
Dear Sir: * * * You may not be quite au courant of the difficulties which we have experienced during the past two years in carrying on our business in the provinces of Turkey owing to the obstruction and prohibition of the Turkish Government, but Mr. Ingersoll is fully aware of them, and he has done much to assist us; but matters have now reached a stage where vigorous action on the part of the American Government is necessary if the New York Life is to continue to work in Turkey.
According to very old conventions between the Turkish Government and the civilized powers, foreign companies or individuals are to be allowed to transact business in the Turkish Empire with absolute freedom. Until recently we were able to send our canvassers all over Turkey, and our agents in all the provincial towns were able to work unmolested, but about a couple of years ago the Turkish Government, acting on the instigation of the Ottoman Insurance Company to promote their own interest, issued a circular to all the provincial governors to the effect that no insurance agent who was not provided with a permit from the Ottoman Government should be allowed to carry on insurance business, and the circular warns the public not to place any faith or confidence in any agent not possessing a certificate to the effect that the company he represents is authorized by Government license to transact business in Turkey. This circular naturally proved very mischievous, and the difficulties and obstruction our agents encountered were in proportion to the spirit or zeal in which the different governors interpreted their instructions; * * * and in some towns the governors were indifferent; but in many places they absolutely refused to allow our agents to work, and in some instances seized all the company’s papers, etc.
At the outset we sought the intervention and protection of the United States minister, and we advised Mr. Ingersoll, and for the last two years we have been constantly in communication with the American legation and also directly with the Ottoman Government. We contend that according to the “capitulations” the Turkish Government has no right to interfere in any way with the operations of the New York Life Insurance Company; nevertheless, we are prepared to take out a license, and an application in due form was made. The Government, however, will not withdraw its circulars nor will it grant us the concession we have applied for, and so far the representations of the legation have been unproductive of any benefit whatever.
We have during this period done some business in the provinces, but always under difficulties; but another circular appears to have been issued quite recently by the Government confirming their previous instructions, and as a result all our provincial agencies are now at a standstill.
Moreover, the Turkish authorities are now refusing to issue passports to our traveling agents, so they are prevented from traveling, and our operations are consequently being further and further restricted and are now confined to the capital and principal seaport towns. The provinces where much business is to be done are practically closed to us, and instead of doing 18,000,000 francs this year we shall be extremely fortunate if we succeed in producing half that amount.
* * * * * * *
We are, etc.,
Mr. Ingersoll to Mr. Hill.
New York , April 17, 1902 .
Dear Sir: Referring to the kind reception you accorded to our esteemed president, Mr. McCall, and myself on Monday last, and the conversation we had in regard to the annoyances the agents of our company are experiencing in Turkey in consequence of unjust and uncalled-for instructions being issued by the Turkish Government to the governors of the different provinces, since my return to New York I have received additional correspondence in regard to this matter, which I think will be of some interest to you and which I would like to join to the papers we left with you. I inclose the same herewith.
I take this occasion to again thank you for the interest you propose to take in this matter, and I hope that our minister in Constantinople will receive such instruction as will have the desired effect on the Turkish officials.
I am, etc.,
General Manager for Europe and Resident Executive.
Messrs. Whittall & Co. to Mr. Hearns, superintendent of agencies, Paris.
Sir: With reference to our letter of the 24th ultimo respecting the obstruction of the Turkish Government, we have now to hand you copies of letters that have been exchanged with the United States minister in this matter.
Trusting the question is engaging your most earnest attention,
We are, etc.,
P. S.—This prohibition of the Government has reduced our proportion for March to a half million francs, whereas it should have been a million and a half. It is simply disastrous.
Messrs. Whittall & Co. to Mr. Leishman.
Excellency: By our several requests presented to this honorable legation we have drawn its attention to the difficulties and vexations of which the representatives of the New York Life Insurance Company are the object on the part of the authorities of the Ottoman provinces. We have furthermore not failed to keep it posted constantly in regard to the steps taken by us at the competent departments, and particularly in regard to the deposit by us at the ministry of commerce and public works of the documents exacted by the law on foreign limited-liability companies, promulgated in 1303 (1887).
The honorable legation has been good enough to address the Ottoman ministry of foreign affairs under date of November 6, 1901, and January 16, 1902. The first of these notes, after having passed through various administrative channels, was at last referred to the council of the ministry of commerce and public works, where it remains without effect since the 14th of January last, and as to the second, it has been decreed to the consulting bureau of the ministry of foreign affairs under date of the 20th of the same month and has not had a better fate than the preceding.
Meanwhile, the situation is becoming worse from day to day, and we receive daily from our agents in the provinces louder and louder complaints, and we hasten to transmit to you herewith two copies of those received from our agents in Sivas, Amasia, and Yuzgat. Your excellency will see from their contents that * * * the authorities * * * no longer content themselves with publications putting [Page 1029] soi-disant the public on their guard against foreign insurances, but they have come to acts by threats and seizing the papers and documents of the company.
Your excellancy will understand that this situation is no longer tolerable, that it will have for effect not only to annihilate completely our transactions in Turkey and to gravely injure our credit and reputation, but further to put American enterprises in this country at the mercy of the caprice and arbitrament of any police agent, which is of the highest gravity.
In bringing the foregoing to the attention of this honorable legation, we beg your excellency to be good enough to urgently take such measures as you shall judge necessary to put a stop without delay to the persecutions of which our company is the object, and to have accorded to our company the liberty of carrying on its operations, to which it has right by virtue of the treaties and capitulations in force.
We have, etc.,
Mr. Leishman to Messrs. Whittall & Co.
Constantinople , March 27, 1902 .
Gentlemen: I beg to acknowledge receipt of your communication of March 25, with inclosures, and in reply I deem it wise to advise you to take up the question on broad lines of establishing the New York Life Insurance Company on a proper basis in the Ottoman Empire in preference to raising questions in individual cases, for once the great question is settled the small ones will disappear, and until that is done I fear you are apt to experience more or less trouble and annoyance.
All sovereign governments enjoy the right to frame proper laws for the protection of their citizens and commerce, and unless you can show that American insurance companies are being discriminated against, or that the laws with which they are asked to comply are unjust and illegal, there is very little hope of the legation being able to render you any material assistance, although I am most anxious and willing to do anything in my power to aid and protect any American interest. I would suggest that you carry out the intention indicated in one of your former letters of sending one of your firm to see me in order that I may be made acquainted with the real cause of the troubles, and what steps you deem necessary in order to correct same.
I am, etc.,
Messrs. Whittall & Co. to Mr. Leishman.
Sir: We have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your excellency’s dispatch of the 27th ultimo, and to express our thanks for your excellency’s kind attention to the question of the obstruction of the Ottoman Government toward the New York Life Insurance Company.
The New York Life is quite prepared to conform to any reasonable regulation which the Turkish Government might impose before granting a concession to work in Turkey, and as a matter of fact an application has been made in conformity with the usual procedure, and this is, we believe, within the knowledge of the legation, but the Turkish Government does not appear to have taken any steps toward granting the concession, nor is there any indication to lead one to hope that a concession will ever be granted.
We would respectfully solicit your excellency’s kind assistance in urging the Turkish authorities to give our application their prompt attention, as we are certain that without diplomatic intervention the authorities will take no action in the matter. In the meantime we contend that in view of the capitulations which accord freedom of commerce to foreign individuals and companies in the Turkish Empire the Government has no right to seize documents belonging to the New York Life, or to hinder its agents in the performance of their duties.
We are of opinion that the United States legation should take an early opportunity of protesting to the Sublime Porte and to the Palace against the arbitrary and unwarranted [Page 1030] obstruction that is being caused to the agents of the New York Life, and to demand that they shall not be interfered with in any way in the future.
These difficulties have been going on for over two years, and unless your excellency is able to get them removed the operations of the New York Life in Turkey will be reduced to a very serious extent. We maintain that this is a case where the Turkish Government is not only violating its treaties, but is also showing its ill-will toward the United States by refusing to grant a concession when applied for, and we claim on behalf of the New York Life that energetic action should be taken by the legation to obtain the freedom of our business to which we are entitled. The Government, in reply to our remonstrances, states that our agents are not allowed to work in the provinces because the New York Life is not registered in Turkey, and when we apply for registration they decline to grant it. Surely this is a position of affairs which merits the earnest attention of the United States Government.
This is the basis of our complaint, and the instances of persecution to which we drew the attention of your excellency in our last were given as proofs of our case.
It was with the object of explaining the whole position to your excellency that we solicited the interview which was kindly afforded to Mr. Chirinian, as this gentleman has been doing the needful on our behalf with the Turkish authorities, and is au courant of the whole question.
If your excellency is still desirous of interviewing either Mr. Chirinian or a member of our firm it will give us pleasure to accede to such a request, but we trust we have stated our case sufficiently clearly to enable your excellency to take immediate and energetic action to remedy a state of affairs which has become intolerable, is causing serious prejudice to American interests, and is in violation of treaty rights.
We have, etc.,