Minister Beaupré to the Secretary of State.
Buenos Aires, December 27, 1905.
Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy of license law No. 4934,a which was passed by the National Congress on the 11th instant, approved by the Executive on the 20th instant, published in the Official Bulletin No. 3651 of the 26th instant, and which takes effect January 1, 1906.
Under this law every individual branch of commerce, industry, and the professions in the Republic must pay an annual license fee of from $5 to $60,000 each. While internal regulations of this kind can not, in the main, be of particular interest abroad, yet there are some provisions of this law which affect foreigners doing business in this country. I therefore enumerate some of the items, giving the amount of license fees to be paid in certain cases:
Dentists, $100; physicians, $100; engineers, $50; architects and surveyors, $100; brokers, $150; insurance experts, $150; representatives of foreign houses whose business is not open to the public, and commercial travelers, $500; importers of general merchandise, $300 to $5,000; importers and exporters, $500 to $6,000; general experts and commission merchants, $50 to $700; wholesale and retail business houses, $150 to $3,000; retail business houses, $20 to $2,000; maritime agents, $60 to $800; manufactories with mechanical motor power, $50 to $5,000; manufactories without mechanical motor power, $10 to $500; banks of deposit, $7,000 to $60,000; branches of banks, $1,000; gas companies, $10,000 to $20,000; telephone companies, $1,000; telegraph companies, $ 1,000; cooperative societies, $ 1,000 to $7,000; corporations not mentioned in this law, $500 to $5,000; insurance companies capitalized and managed in the country, operating upon a single risk, $2,000 to $3,000; insurance companies capitalized outside the country, operating on a single risk, $3,000 to $6,000; insurance companies [Page 50] operating on more than one risk, 50 per cent additional on each risk insured against; branches of insurance companies, $250. Every foreign insurance company shall deposit in the conversion treasury or the national bank the following amounts in bonds: Fire insurance companies, $300,000 national money; insurance companies of other classes operating upon a single risk, $150,000; insurance companies operating upon more than one risk shall deposit $100,000 in bonds for each risk against which they insure; no insurance company can commence operations without having deposited the bonds mentioned, and infractions shall be punished by from six months to one year’s imprisonment, and the closing of the house or agency.
I am, sir, etc.,
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