Minister Barrett to the Secretary of State.
Bogotá, February 24, 1906.
Sir: Referring to my No. 38 of February 7, and No. 41 of February 13, 1906, in regard to the additional tax on foreign flour, I am glad to report that, in response to my representations on behalf of American firms or their agents in Cartagena and Barranquilla, the Government of Colombia has seen fit to modify the application of the tax so that it will not prove so severe a hardship as first indicated.
This new tariff as originally imposed applied to all flour leaving Cartagena and Barranquilla coming up the river for the interior, and practically prevented American firms or their agents from disposing of the flour they had on hand, intended for the interior, without great loss. The modification of the decree, made in response to my representations, is not to place this additional tax on foreign flour until it reaches Puerto Berrio, on the Magdalena River, thus allowing the flour to be introduced for consumption in the Departments of the Atlantic and in the important interior provinces of Antioquia and Santander without this additional tax of 8 cents a kilogram. In other words, the change practically limits the new tax to the Departments of Tolima, Cundinamarca, Huila, and Quesada.
As the largest proportion of American flour goes to Antioquia and Santander and the Departments of the Atlantic, it will be seen that the alteration is for the benefit of American trade.
I have, etc.,