5727/264–265.
The Danish Minister to the Secretary of State.
Washington, November 23, 1908.
Mr. Secretary: By the note addressed to my predecessor on September 4 last, 5727/248, serial No. 791, your excellency was good enough to request of this legation a statement concerning the organization and operation of the Committee of the Wholesale Merchants’ Association of Copenhagen, “Kjöbenhavns Grosserer Societets Komite,” in regard to the wish of my Government to secure for the certificates of value issued by that body and covering merchandise exported from Denmark into the United States the recognition by American customs officers on the same footing as like certificates issued by German chambers of commerce.
I have accordingly the honor to inform your excellency that the above-mentioned Danish body was organized by a decree of April 23, 1817, by virtue of which it has to furnish reports and statements which the Government, the authorities, or the courts of justice may request of it. Through later dispositions the association was invested with power for participating in the election of the members of the Tribunal of Commerce and Navigation and in the operation of determining the rate of exchange.
The said association being, according to a statement of the royal ministry of interior, the only official Danish institution dealing with questions pertaining to commerce and being frequently called upon by the central Government for assistance in all matters concerning such questions, it may, without any doubt, righteously be described as a governmental or quasi-governmental organization.
In inclosing a printed statement (pp. 1–7) on the organization of the said association I venture to express the hope that the above information will enable your excellency to recommend the wishes set forth in my predecessor’s note of August 20 last, for a favorable consideration by the Department of the Treasury.
I avail, etc.,