File No. 5727/141.
The Italian Chargé to the Secretary of State.
Manchester, Mass., October 4, 1907.
Mr. Secretary of State: With reference to the conversation I had some time ago at your department with the Honorable Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Alvey A. Adee, and in pursuance of instructions received from His Majesty’s Government, I have the honor to have recourse to your excellency’s well-known courtesy and to beg that you will obtain for me from the Federal Government that the certificates issued by the Italian chambers of commerce, respecting the value of merchandise for export, be accepted by the competent American customs authorities as valid evidence and by them considered in connection with any other evidence that may be adduced.
In presenting this request I have to remark that it refers to, and at the same time originates from, the similar concession granted to Germany under the agreement which went into effect on the 1st of July last and, more recently, to other countries which have formally applied therefor. I beg to add, in implicit compliance with your excellency’s natural request, that the Italian chambers of commerce bear the same quasi-governmental character as the German chambers and offer the same guarantees. His Majesty’s Government authorizes me to make an explicit declaration in that sense to the Federal Government, and instructs me to say in support of this statement that the Italian chambers of commerce under our law of July 6, 1862, are instituted by a royal decree which determines the headquarters and territory of each chamber as well as the number of its members. The charges and dues levied by the chambers can not be collected without first receiving the approval of the Government by a royal decree upon the advice of the council of state. The chambers are also under the direct supervision of the ministry of agriculture, industry, and commerce, which approves their by-laws, financial statements, and rolls of their clerical force. Furthermore, the Government has always the right to dissolve a chamber of commerce and to appoint a royal commission to take charge of its affairs until a new council is appointed.
Fully confident that this request, presented in the name of my Government, will meet with a favorable reception on the part of the Federal Government, I tender, in advance, my thanks to your excellency for whatever action you may be pleased to take in the sense herein indicated, and avail myself, etc.