File No. 611.3731/27.
The American Minister to the Secretary of State.
Habana, April 13, 1911.
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the due receipt of your telegrams of the 8th and 12th instant, in regard to the Cuban duty [Page 107] on sugar, and to confirm my telegram of the 9th, to which your second-telegram was an affirmative reply. From the Department’s telegrams of March 4 and 15, it had been understood by this legation (and the Cuban secretary of state) that we intended to insist upon the maintenance of our preferential as heretofore, which meant that Cuba must repeal the law passed in February reducing the duty. This would have caused great embarrassment to the Cuban Government.
This morning I called on Secretary Sanguily and gave him the memorandum of which a copy is inclosed herewith. The secretary was much pleased at being relieved from what had appeared to him to be a most embarrassing situation, and asked me to express his grateful appreciation to you for your position, which is now thoroughly understood. He said that Cuba would always maintain preferential treatment of American products in accordance with our reciprocity treaty. He thought that there was slight chance of Cuba’s signing the Brussels Convention, as it was claimed that the treaty itself created what was practically a premium on Cuban sugar. Cuba has now done all that she could to conform to the wishes of the signatory powers and must accept their decision. Señor Sanguily said that personally he did not see that it would be advantageous to Cuba to adhere to the convention, but that interested parties had wished for some action which might possibly free Cuba from the domination of the “Sugar Trust,” the present situation being that the 20 per cent preferential accorded by treaty to Cuban sugar imported into the United States benefits the trust to a greater extent than it does the producer.
The suggestion that Cuba put sugar on the free list was made by Señor Sanguily some time ago. No reference was made to it in our conversation this morning, and I shall not bring it up myself in any future conversation.
I have, etc.,