611.5131/781

The Chargé in France (Armour) to the Secretary of State

No. 9759

Sir: With reference to my telegram No. 380 of yesterday11 I have the honor to transmit herewith in copy and translation the text of the note from the Foreign Office, dated August 9, 1929, replying to our note of July 26,12 concerning customs evaluations.

As set forth in my telegram under reference, in conversations at the Foreign Office the Division of Commercial Relations stated that there was no present intention of exercising the right of reciprocity requested with respect to the assignment and activities of French customs agents; the Division indicated that this stipulation was [Page 1000] inserted in order to satisfy the amour-propre of various interested parties here.

It will be observed that it is the understanding of the French Government that our Treasury agents should be attached to the American consulates. The Department’s note—embodied in its instruction No. 4161 of July 13—refers on page 6 to the French proposal as being “that officers of the United States Treasury Department be attached to the American Consulate,” and lower on the same page the singular, “American Consulate,” is again used. In discussing this point the Foreign Office referred to the draft agreement enclosed with its note of March 6, 1929, which proposes attaching Treasury agents to the “autorités consulaires américaines.” It inquired whether the use of the singular in our note was deliberate and, in that event, whether it meant the Consulate General in Paris, In this connection the Division of Commercial Relations referred somewhat vaguely to a conversation had by M. Claudel in the Department, in the course of which recognition was voiced of the idea that it might be advantageous to have a larger number of Treasury agents than heretofore operating in France. Considering how desirous the French were of getting every single American Treasury agent out of France, the foregoing is interesting to say the least.

The remaining sentence in the paragraph of the French note above referred to states that “It is, indeed, desirable that in the exercise of their new functions they (the Treasury agents) should be officially accredited in France.” The Department, however, may take it for granted that the French Government thereby in no way envisages according these agents diplomatic status; consequently, this question, which in the past has occasioned a considerable amount of difficulty, cannot be deemed raised by this portion of the French note.

I have [etc.]

Norman Armour
[Enclosure—Translation]

The Director of Political and Commercial Affairs of the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Corbin) to the American Chargé (Armour)

Mr. Chargé d’affaires: By letter dated July 26, 1929, you were good enough to convey to me a communication from the Government of the United States which concluded as follows:

(Then follows a translation in French of the text of our note embodied in the Department’s instruction No. 4161 of July 13, as set forth on pages 8 and 9 thereof, with the exception of the first sentence on [Page 1001] page 8. That is to say, beginning with the words “In deference to the wishes of the French Government,” down through the end of the note.)

In acknowledging the receipt of this communication I have the honor to inform you that the French Government has appreciated the friendly spirit in which the Government of the United States has sought the solution of the difficulties relative to the evaluation of French merchandise exported to the United States.

The French Government especially notes with satisfaction that Section 510 of the Tariff Act may be expected to be abrogated and that the role of the Treasury agents would consequently be limited to offering their services to the French exporter in order to give the latter, by furnishing the information required by the American customs administration, the opportunity of claiming the benefit of the foreign value or export value of his merchandise.

Moreover, you are good enough to give me the assurance that the instructions which will be given to the new agents, along with the discrimination in their selection, will make of them collaborators of our exporters and will render their activity acceptable in every way to the French Government.

In view of the essential modifications which the abrogation of Section 510 and the assurances above set forth would effect in the powers of American customs agents, the French Government would see no objection to the return of these agents in France, it being well understood that their activity would be exerted strictly under the conditions explicitly defined in your communication above set forth.

As the American Government is good enough to agree, these agents would be attached to American consulates. It is, indeed, desirable that in the exercise of their new functions they should be officially accredited in France.

Moreover, and by way of reciprocity, the French Government requests that the Government of the United States should consent, as was proposed by it in its note of October 19, 1928, to representatives of the French customs being assigned to the United States with powers identical to those with which American customs agents in France will be invested.

I should be obliged to you to let me know if the Government of the United States gives its definitive approval to the preceding propositions.

In case the Government of the United States should judge it possible forthwith to apply the arrangement resulting from your communication and the present letter, the French Government is ready to accept the immediate return to France of the American Treasury agents.

[Page 1002]

It remains understood that the present agreement would become null and void if, in the event that Congress should have reenacted the former article 510, the Administration of the United States would have recourse to the reprisals there envisaged.

Please accept [etc.]

Charles Corbin
  1. Not printed.
  2. See instruction No. 4161, July 13, supra.