The Acting Secretary of State to the Portuguese Minister.
Washington , June 28, 1910 .
The undersigned, Acting Secretary of State of the United States of America, wishes to place it on record that, his attention having been called, on the occasion of the exchange of notes respecting the [Page 830] reciprocal concession of the most favored nation treatment to the citizens, merchandise, and ships of the two countries, by his excellency the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves, to the final protocol annexed to the treaty of commerce recently concluded between Portugal and Germany whereby the names of “Porto” and “Madeira” are recognized as being strictly designations of origin and whereby it is agreed to prevent the sale in the German Empire under these names of wines not originally from the Portuguese districts of Douro and of the island of Madeira, he hastens, in relation to this subject, to declare that the Government of the United States of America will fully exercise the powers vested in it by law in order to protect in the United States of America the names “Porto” and “Madeira”; and that, with this end in view, it will apply strictly laws and rulings forbidding the labeling or branding of wine so as to deceive or mislead the purchaser concerning the nature or the origin of the product.
It is also understood that, should the Congress of the United States act on the recommendation of the President in regard to ship subsidies, the Government of the United States of America will favor the establishment of a subsidized line of steamships plying directly between the United States and Portugal.
The Acting Secretary of State of the United States of America begs his excellency the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves to accept the renewed assurances of his highest consideration.