Office of the Historian

File No. 611.3731/14.

The American Minister to the Secretary of State.

American Legation,
Habana, February 17, 1911.
No. 637.]

Sir: Referring to certain suggestions recently made by Señor Sanguily, the Cuban secretary of state, which were mentioned in my dispatches Nos. 5891 and 626,2 I have the honor to report that a bill has now been introduced in the Chamber of Representatives to authorize the Executive:

1.
To request of the Government of the United States of America the amplification of the existing reciprocity treaty between Cuba and the United States,3 with a view to obtain greater advantages for tobacco in return for concessions in regard to other American merchandise,
2.
To invite the United States to conclude a treaty for the reciprocal protection of trade-marks and patents; and
3.
To apply a surcharge upon existing tariff rates of 50 per cent on the products or merchandise of any nation which has not already concluded a reciprocity treaty or which does not within six months after the promulgation of this law make tariff concessions to Cuban manufactured tobacco.

This bill also contains provisions in regard to special seals by which the identity of Cuban manufactured tobacco can be clearly proven.

I have, etc.,

John B. Jackson.
  1. Not printed.↩
  2. See article on Sugar, p. 102.↩
  3. Commercial convention, proclaimed Dec. 17, 1903.↩