File No. 4002/282.
The Secretary of State to Minister Calhoun.
Washington, June 1, 1910.
Sir: Referring to Consul Greene’s No. 47 to the department, dated December 27 last, and its inclosures, the department considers that it is only equitable that American residents of Harbin should pay their just proportion of such municipal taxes as may be needed to provide the city with roads, lighting, sanitation, and police. In other places where the obligation of Americans to pay taxes has been questioned, it has been the policy of the department in the past to instruct its representatives to have such taxes paid provisionally or under protest, in order to avoid causing unnecessary inconvenience to local authorities who are charged with the upkeep of the municipalities. Such precedents are found in the arrangement for the payment of municipal taxes under protest in Yokohama, pending the decision of The Hague tribunal, and more recently in the instruction to the consulate general at Seoul, Korea, directing the payment of the house taxes being levied in interior cities and towns in that country; also, quite recently, the department approved of an automobile tax being imposed upon the American residents at Bangkok.
The situation at Harbin has been somewhat complicated by the attempted enforcement of regulations which appear to violate the treaty rights of Americans there, in that they provide for business licenses which are to be granted only after an inspection by the Russian police of the books of the firm concerned, and which contain other obnoxious provisions giving inquisitorial powers to the police. But in view of the recognition by Russia in the preliminary arrangement of May 11, 1909,1 of China’s sovereignty over the leased [Page 231] railway territory, and especially the declaration made in the notes exchanged between the Wai-wu Pu and the Russian minister at the time the preliminary arrangement was signed that the leased territory of the Manchurian Railway is Chinese territory wherein Chinese sovereignty is fully recognized, and that the rights and privileges which the subjects of other powers enjoy in the same zone under the treaties between China and the other powers are to be fully preserved, the department instructed you by cable on May 24, 11 a.m., to have the consul at Harbin informed that the department deems it no more than equitable that American residents at Harbin pay provisionally through our consul ordinary municipal rates, the same as Russian, Chinese, and other residents, pending the adoption of satisfactory municipal regulations which this Government regards as indispensable, and as to which all rights are reserved.
This proposal is made as a matter of equity and to relieve the municipality of any embarrassment for want of funds, in so far as relates to our own objections, inasmuch as the proper maintenance of the municipality is manifestly to the best interests of all concerned. It is also to be noted that the Chinese Government has signed the preliminary agreement of May 11, 1909, which in Article XVIII provides that the present regulations are continued in force, pending the preparation of new rules. It would appear, therefore, that the municipal council as now constituted has the authority of the Chinese Government for the collection of the taxes necessary for the present upkeep of the municipality.
The department has good reason to believe that the negotiation of detailed regulations for the Harbin municipality, provided for in Article XVII of the present agreement, will be taken up shortly by Russia and China, and that a satisfactory adjustment will be made of present difficulties. Mr. Rockhill has full instructions on this point and will discuss the matter with the Russian Government at an early date.
You may send a copy of this instruction to the consul at Harbin, through the consul general at Mukden, for their information, and you will take occasion to make clear to the Chinese Government the attitude of the department.
I am, etc.,