File No. 763.72112/2246
The Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Peters) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 21.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th ultimo,2 further in regard to the inspection of tobacco intended for exportation, such inspection to be for the satisfaction of the British Government that packages purporting to contain tobacco do not in fact contain contraband goods, such as cotton or rubber.
This Department will be glad to investigate any suspected shipment of tobacco before it is actually laden on the exporting vessel, provided timely notice of such suspicions is given to this Department or to the collector of customs at the port of exportation.
I shall also be glad to caution collectors of customs to take all reasonable steps to secure accuracy in export manifests. To this end this Department is perfectly willing to station customs inspectors at the larger tobacco factories to supervise the packing of such tobacco upon request of the manufacturers, the salaries of such officers to be reimbursed by the manufacturers.
Should the larger tobacco factories desire such supervision in the packing of their tobacco and make application for the same, the necessary action will be taken by this Department.
Respectfully,
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