No. 194.] Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gresham. UNITED STATES LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to report that in an interview which I had with the minister of state yesterday, I read to him your instruction No. 134, of the 5th instant, concerning the Mora claim. I then presented him with a copy of the same without any comment whatever, according to the directions contained in your unofficial note of the 6th instant. I am, etc., HANNIS TAYLOR. No. 193.] Mr. Gresham to Mr. Taylor. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 17, 1894. SIR: You are instructed to remind the Spanish Government that no reply has been made to the last communication from the Department on the subject of the Mora claim, a copy of which, you reported in your No. 194 of June 23 last, you presented on the day previous to the minister of state. This Government earnestly hopes for a favorable response at an early day. The correspondence in the case was called for and submitted to the Senate at its last session. I am, etc., No. 239.] Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gresham. W. Q. GRESHAM. LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to report, in reply to your No. 193, of the 17th instant, that I have reminded the minister of state of his failure to answer your last communication touching the Mora claim, which I read to him on the 22d of June last, and a copy of which I, at the same time, delivered to him. I repeated your earnest hope for a favorable response at an early day, informing him at the same time that the correspondence in the case had been called for and submitted to the Senate at its last session. I am, etc., HANNIS TAYLOR. Mr. Taylor to Mr. Gresham. No. 242.] LEGATION OF THE UNITED STATES, SIR: I have the honor to inclose herein, with translation, a copy of the minister of state's reply to my note of the 29th ultimo, touching his failure to answer your note of the 22d of June last in reference to the Mera claim. I am, etc., AP FR 94- -29 HANNIS TAYLOR, [Inclosure in No. 242.-Translation.] MINISTRY OF STATE, EXCELLENCY. MY DEAR SIR: While acknowledging the receipt of your note of the 29th, I hasten to inform you that the delay in answering the communication which you had the kindness to address to me on the 22d of June last resulted from the fact that I have been heretofore unable, for well-known reasons, to communicate its contents to the council of ministers. I have already had occasion to inform your excellency that the nature of this affair, on account of the parlimentary state in which it now is. makes it impossible for the ministry of state alone to adopt any decision in the matter without the concurrence of the council of ministers. As soon as the ministers meet again in Madrid, and the president is present at the sessions, I will consult with him on the subject. I seize, etc., S. MORET, IMPORT DUTIES LEVIED ON CERTAIN PRODUCTS OF COLOMBIA, HAITI, AND VENEZUELA UNDER SECTION 3 OF THE ACT OF OCTOBER 1, 1890.1 Mr. Blaine to Señor Hurtado. DEPARTMENT OF STATE, SIR: I am directed by the President to again bring to your attention the provisions of the tariff law of the Congress of the United States, approved October 1, 1890, in which provision was made for the admission into the United States, free of all duty, of the following articles, to wit: All sugars not above No. 16 Dutch standard in color, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides. In section 3 of this law it is declared that these remissions of duty were made "with a view to secure reciplocal trade with countries producing" those articles, and it is provided that On and after the first day of January, 1892, whenever and so often as the President shall be satisfied that the Government of any country producing and exporting sugars, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, raw and uncured, or any of such articles, imposes duties or other exactions upon the agricultural or other products of the United States which, in view of the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides into the United States he may deem to be reciprocally unequal and unreasonable, he shall have the power and it shall be his duty to suspend, by proclamation to that effect, the provisions of this act relating to the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, the production of such country, for such time as he shall deem just, and in such case and during such suspension duties shall be levied, collected, and paid upon sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, the product of or exported from such designated country, at the rates set forth in said section 3. I am further directed by the President to inform you that, in view of the free introduction into the United States of the articles named, the product of Colombia, he deems the duties imposed upon the agricul tural and other products of the United States, on their introduction into Colombia, to be reciprocally unequal and unreasonable; and that, unless on or before the 15th day of March next some satisfactory commercial arrangement is entered upon between the Government of the United States and the Government of Colombia, or unless some action is taken by the latter Government whereby the unequal and unreasonable state of the trade relations between the two countries is removed, the President will, on the date last named, issue his proclamation suspending the provisions of the tariff law cited, relating to the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, the production of Colombia, and during such suspension the duties set forth in section 3 of said law shall be levied, collected, and paid upon sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, the product of or exported from Colombia. In asking you to transmit to your Government the foregoing information, 1 beg to repeat to you the assurance, given in my note to you of January 3, 1891, and repeated to you and to your Government at various times since that date, of the earnest desire of the Government of the United States to maintain with the Republic of Colombia such trade relations as shall be reciprocally equal and mutually advanta1 1 Reprinted from Senate Ex. Doc. No. 56, Fifty-third Congress, second session. geous, and to express the hope that before the date fixed in this note an adjustment of the commercial relations may be reached between the two countries on a permanent basis, profitable alike to both. Accept, etc., JAMES G. BLAINE. Señor Hurtado to Mr. Blaine. LEGATION OF COLOMBIA, Washington, February 25, 1892. (Received February 27.) SIR: I had the honor to duly receive your note of the 7th of Janu ary last past, in which you made known to me that you had been directed by His Excellency the President to again bring my attention to the third section of the tariff law of the United States, approved by Congress on the 1st of October, 1890, the provisions of which you recite. You then state that you had been further directed by His Excellency the President to inform me that in view of the free introduction into the United States of certain grades of sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, he deems the duties imposed upon the agricultural and other products of the United States, on their introduction into Colombia, to be reciprocally unequal and unreasonable, and that unless on or before the 15th day of March next some satisfactory commercial arrangement is entered upon between the Government of the United States and the Government of Colombia, or unless some action is taken by the latter Government whereby the unequal and unreasonable state of the trade relations between the two countries be removed the President will, on the day last named, issue his proclamation suspending the provisions of the tariff cited relating to the free introduction of such sugar, molasses, coffee, tea, and hides, the production of Colombia, and that during such suspension the duties set forth in section 3 of said law shall be levied, collected, and paid upon them. On receipt of your said note of the 7th of January I sent a copy thereof to the minister of foreign relations at Bogota, which went for ward by the mail appointed to leave New York, via Colon, on the 11th of January; and from instructions received at this legation previous and subsequently to that date I am enabled to offer some remarks on the contents of your said note, which I shall proceed to submit, with a view to expedite the full and proper consideration of this important matter. Reserving all rights growing out of treaty stipulations existing between Colombia and the United States of America, in connection with the subject under consideration, I beg leave to observe, in the first place, that such changes in the tariff law of Colombia as are contemplated by the tenor and spirit of your note can not be effected otherwise than through the action of the Legislature. Congress in Colombia meets on the 20th of July of every alternate year. The last ordinary session came to a close in November, 1890; that is to say, when the tariff law of the United States, adopted on the 1st of the previous month, could barely have become known in Bogota, in the form it was approved, and long before you were good enough to call the attention of this legation, for the information of my Government, to the provisions of the third section of the said law. The President of Colombia has therefore had no opportunity to ascertain the sense of Congress respecting the provisions contained in the third section of the said law of the 1st of October, 1890; nor will he be able to do so and obtain the proper authority from the Legislature to adopt measures in connection therewith until after the next meeting of Congress, which will take place on the 20th of July of the present year. These facts must have escaped the notice of His Excellency President Harrison, at the time of framing the resolution which you have done me the honor to communicate to me in your note of the 7th of January last past; otherwise, judging from the just and equitable spirit which has characterized the proceedings of the present Administration in its relations with the Government of Colombia, a later date than the 15th of next March would, no doubt, have been fixed upon for the issuance of the contemplated proclamation to suspend, under certain contingencies, the exemption from import duties enjoyed under the tariff act by certain articles, the produce of Colombia, on their introduction into the United States. Under these circumstances, due regard being had on the one hand to the inability of the President of Colombia to deal for the time being in a definite manner with the subject-matter of your said note of the 7th of January last, and on the other part to his earnest desire to follow in this emergency such a course as will result in an amicable, equitable, and mutually satisfactory solution of the situation arising out of the provisions of the third section of the United States tariff act, I am directed by my Government to express the hope that His Excellency the President of the United States, after he shall have given due consideration to the position of things as above described, will be pleased to allow the trade relations between the two countries to continue undisturbed until such time, at least, as the President of Colombia may be able to obtain from Congress instructions and authority to treat upon and dispose of this matter. And I am further directed, in cordial response to the desire of your Government (expressed in the last paragraph of your note), to maintain mutually advantageous trade relations with the Republic of Colombia; and as an earnest of the favorable dispositions entertained by the President toward the adjustment of this question, to convey to you the assurance that it is his intention to recommend to Congress, immediately after its organization, the extension of the free tariff list, so as to include articles at present liable to duty upon their introduction into Colombia and the consumption of which would be fostered if relieved from import duties. With reference to the designation of "reciprocally unequal and unreasonable," bestowed on the import duties of Colombia as affecting agricultural and other American products, I am requested to state that the conclusion reached by His Excellency the President in this respect has greatly disappointed the expectations of my Government, inasmuch as the Colombian tariff is especially favorable to imports from the United States, and contains liberal provisions of a nature to encourage and promote commercial relations between the two countries. I am directed to specially call your attention to these points, which I shall illustrate by a few examples and remarks. At page 82 of the last bulletin issued by the Bureau of the American Republics, purporting to set forth the foreign commerce of the nations. of this continent, will be found a table showing the imports into Colombia of the United States, Great Britain, France, and Spain for the year 1887, to which I beg to refer. It is to be regretted that no similar statement of later date is given; but as it is only intended to establish relative or comparative results, the fact of this data being a few years old is a matter of but little importance. On examining this table it will be seen that, as regards the agricul tural staple products of this country, viz, breadstuffs, meat and dairy |