File No. 14867/5.
The Chargé of Austria-Hungary to the Secretary of State.
Manchester, Mass., July 22, 1909.
Your Excellency: Referring to our numerous conferences on the subject, I have the honor, in pursuance to instructions from my Government, to inform your excellency that the latter would greatly appreciate an official declaration by the State Department to the effect that the administrative provisions of the commercial agreement concluded between the United States and the German Empire in 1907, will, as far as they remain in force during the period prescribed after such denunciation has been made, be likewise applied to Austrian and Hungarian imports.
My Government points to the fact that this would not imply a new concession on the part of the United States, but merely the continuance of an existing condition during the six-months denunciation period. It believes that it can count on an absolutely equal treatment of our products with those of the German Empire as far as the administrative provisions are concerned, for the reason that a differential treatment of Austria-Hungary would have to be regarded by it as a violation of the principle of the most favored nation, which is applied to the United States by the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy in the most faithful manner.
I am aware that the State Department will be unable to make an authoritative declaration regarding the future tariff treatment of foreign nations until the tariff now under discussion is permanently adopted. However, in view of our commercial interests, I should greatly appreciate an exhaustive and, as I hope, satisfactory answer to this note as soon as the new tariff bill becomes a law.
While having the honor to request as early a reply as possible, I avail, etc.