Minister Barrett to
the Secretary of State.
American Legation,
Bogotá, February 13,
1906.
No. 41.]Sir: Referring to my No. 38 of February 7,
1906, in regard to an additional duty on foreign flour, I have the honor
to inclose a rough translation of the decree imposing this duty.
While it may be noted that in the terms of the decree imposing this
additional duty of 8 cents (making a total of approximately 21½ cents
per kilogram) is only placed on foreign flour leaving the Atlantic ports
and not upon the same entering the Atlantic ports, it must be borne in
mind that the duty on flour leaving these ports amounts practically to
the same thing as on flour entering, because the great consumption
thereof is in the interior. The amount consumed in Barranquilla,
Cartagena, and other places on the Atlantic coast is very small,
compared to the total used in the country.
I have thought it best to forward a copy of the decree because flour from
the United States is one of the principal imports into this country, and
the trade in it was developing into considerable proportions. It must
not, however, be construed that the imposing of this duty is intended to
be in any way hostile to the interests of the United States. It is
prompted purely by local conditions and would have been as quickly
ordered if the flour came chiefly from some other country.
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure—Translation.]
Decree No. 166 of 1906 (February 5), which places an additional
duty on foreign flour.
The President of the Republic exercising his legal powers and
considering: That the importation of flour from abroad threatens to
destroy the industrial production of wheat in the interior of the
Republic, and
That it is the duty of the Government to aid the national industry
without doing any injury to the region where certain crops do not
exist, and that it is necessary to favor the importation of some
articles,
decrees:
- Art. 1. The foreign flour which
leaves the Atlantic ports for those of the Magdalena River
from Calamar, inclusive, for those up the river, either for
local consumption or for that of other places shall pay an
additional duty of 8 cents for each kilogram.
- Art. 2. This duty shall be paid
in the custom-house and port where the flour for the
interior is dispatched, and the collector of customs, on the
receipt of the duty, will deliver to the interested party a
permit which he must take from a receipt book containing
stubs in which must be registered the following: The name of
the sender, the name of the receiver, the name of the river
port to which it is to be shipped, the number of packages,
and their total weight.
- Art. 3. The owners of the
steamboats that carry freight on the Magdalena River shall
not issue bills of lading for foreign flour which has not
been duly registered in the prescribed form about which the
preceding article treats; and if they should give a bill of
lading without the prescribed form having been presented,
they shall be considered as smugglers, and they will be
prosecuted as such according to the laws relating to
smuggling.
- Art. 4. The permit must be
presented to the administrator of the national hacienda of
the port of destination or landing in order that he may
countersign and concede with the countersign the right to
pass if the flour is for interior towns.
- Art. 5. All the flour that is
carried without the formalities which this decree imposes
will be considered as contraband, and those who bring it, or
its owners, will be punished according to the law governing
the case.
- Art. 6. In the cases of fraud to
which the present decree refers the prosecuting officers
will be the same as those of which article 78 of decree No.
339 of April 4, 1905, treats, and they shall similarly
observe the same measures of proceeding as the decree just
referred to and decree No. 72, January 16, 1906,
establish.
- Art. 7. This decree shall be
telegraphed to the custom-houses of the Atlantic, and it
shall be put in force from the day it is received by the
authorities at these ports, who will immediately publish it
by proclamation and in the press.
Given at Bogota,
this 5th day of
February, 1906.
(Signed)
R.
Reyes.
The Minister oe Hacienda and
Treasury.
(Signed) Felix Salazar
J.
