Mr. Stover to Mr. Hay.

No. 84.]

Sir: Pursuant to instruction No. 53, bearing date November 14, 1903, I have had careful inquiries made at the commercial court in Vienna as to regulations to be complied with in case of Mr. Charles Strauss before he can open in this city a branch office for John Underwood & Co., a firm presumably organized in the United States under the laws of the State of New York.

I have the honor thereon to report as follows, on the authority of the imperial commercial court and the imperial ministry of justice at Vienna:

1. In view of the existing commercial treaty between the United States and Austria-Hungary, no formal attestation of the Secretary of State that Austrian citizens are admitted to trade in the United States (a so-called reciprocity note) is necessary.

2. But Mr. Strauss must produce, signed and executed by the firm for which he wishes to act, an official certificate, or a certificate issued by a notary public, certifying the existence of the company’s firm; stating the full name of the firm; the date of opening of the company’s business in the United States; the names of the partners, and also containing an exact statement as to the person entitled to represent the firm (whether everyone of the partners, or one partner alone, or only the company as such is entitled).

The signature of the firm thus duly authenticated by the competent American authorities must also be authenticated by the Austro-Hungarian embassy or the consulate.

3. The application to do business must accompany this certificate, and must be made by and in the name of the firm, and the signature to this application must be authenticated in the same manner as the certificate above described.

4. Mr. Strauss, after laying the certificate and application aforesaid before the commercial authorities, must give notice of his opening the business in Vienna in the method pointed out in the general regulations of trade.

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5. The documents above referred to are only necessary because Mr. Strauss wishes to open a branch office of the American firm John Underwood & Co. In case an American citizen intends to open a separate individual business in Austria-Hungary, not a branch office of an American firm, he has only to conform to the regulations of this country, as if he were an Austrian citizen. In this case none of the above documents are required.

I have, etc.,

Bellamy Storer.