811.612 Grapes/Spain/162
The Spanish Ambassador (Padilla) to the Acting Secretary of State
Mr. Secretary: On November 8, 1929, I had the honor to transmit to Your Excellency a Note10 in which I drew attention to Spain’s desire to collaborate in the struggle against the Ceratitis Capitata-Wied, the fruit fly, suggesting, on behalf of my Government, the establishment in Spain of a quarantine similar to No. 68, by which the work of extinguishing the plague in Florida is carried on, requesting in exchange that the Government of the United States, upon the said quarantine’s being established by Spain, should replace the total embargo which it has decreed on grapes from Almeria by the regulations to which fruits from Florida are subject in their commerce in the other States of the United States.
Although quarantine No. 68 is the most intensive campaign of struggle against an insect which has been effected in the world, it is certain that, at this time, it cannot be assured that the extinction of the insect has been achieved, although it is evident that it has made it [Page 814] lose the character of a plague with which it appeared. Perhaps, considering that the desired end has not yet been achieved, the Government of the United States might hold that the establishment of the said quarantine was not sufficient to raise the existing embargo on the fruit of another country, for which reason I wish to call its attention to the fact that, to our way of thinking, the said quarantine has achieved another end which, although intimately connected with the struggle against the insect, is directed to another view and that is permitting trade in the fruits from Florida. It is evident that,” in struggling against the insect to localize it exactly, to learn its life, to see whether it is extending or diminishing [in] the places attacked, etc., the American Government, efficiently aided by its technicians, who have observed limits of destruction of fruit in the vicinity of points attacked, protection of the remainder outside of the said zones, sterilization of the fruit exported, etc., has understood that the criterion of total embargo of fruits which it applied to regions of other countries in which the fly existed and in which campaigns of the importance and intensity of that effected in Florida had not been waged, did not need to be applied in Florida and it replaced it by the provisions which are set forth in the said quarantine No. 68 [which] today regulate the partial commerce in the said fruits from Florida coming from zones in which the fly does not exist, thus succeeding in safeguarding the vital interests of other States, making them compatible with those of Florida which has thus seen its situation relieved, due to the technical assistance which has allowed the raising of the total embargo which, in the beginning, was also established in the said State for its fruits.
Thus taking into account the double character of quarantine No. 68 and desiring that the Government of the United States should be convinced of our desire to collaborate, I repeat my request and ask:
If Spain puts into effect and develops a campaign similar to that carried on in Florida in all respects and in all the regions wherein the fruit fly exists, upon inspection by technicians of the United States [to ascertain] whether all the provisions of quarantine No. 68 have been exactly carried out, it would be sincerely grateful to know whether the Government of the United States would, in such case, give fruits from the said Spanish regions the same facilities in their commerce in the United States as fruits from Florida received today, consequently replacing the total embargo by the provisions which regulate commerce in fruits from Florida.
I avail myself [etc.]
- Not printed.↩