The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-04

| sary for preparation in such cases. The | invitation to the French exposition of lstO
 was brought to the attention of the Con | gress by President Cleveland in Decem- | Der 1895; and so many are the delays nec- essary to such proceedings that the pe- | riod of four years and half which then | intervened before the exposition proved | none too long for the proper preparation | of the exhibits.
 German Tariff Agreement.
 1 The adoption of a new tariff by Ger
 many, accompanied by conventions for | reciprocal tariff concessions between that
 country and most of the other countries of continental Europe, led the German government to give the notice necessary to terminate the reciprocal commercial agreement with this country proclaimed July 13, 1900. The notice was to take ef- feet on the 1st of March, 1908, and in de-
 fault of some other arrangements this
 would have left the exports from the
 United States to Germany subject to the general German tariff duties, from 9 to 60 per cent higher than the conventional
 duties imposed upon the goods of most of our competitors for German trade
 Under special agreement made be- tween the governments in February, 1906
 the German government postponed the
 operation of their notice until the 30th of June, 1901. In the meantime, deeming 1t |
 fort to prevent tariff war between the United States and Germany arising from
 misunderstanding by either country of the conditions existing in the other and act ing upon the invitation of the German
 government, I sent to Berlin a commis-
 sion composed of competent experts in the operation and administration of the
 customs tariff from the departments of
 the treasury and commerce and labor. This commission was engaged for several
 months in conference with a similar com
 mission appointed by the German gov
 ernment. under instructions, far as
 practicable, to reach common under
 standing as to all facts regarding the
 tariffs of the United States and Germany
 material and relevant. to the trade rela- tions between the two countries. The
 commission reported and upon the basis of the report a further temporary com
 mercial agreement was entered Into by the two countries, pursuant to which, in the exercise of the authority conferred
 upon the President by the third section of the tariff act of July A, 1897, extend- ed the reduced tariff rates provided for in that section to champagne and all other sparkling wines, and pursuant to
 which the German conventional or mini
 mum tariff rates were extended to about 96h per cent of all the exports from the
 United States to Germany. This agree
 ment Is to remain in force until the 30th of June, 1908. and until six months after notice by either party to terminate it.
 The agreement and the report of the
 commission on which 1t Is based will be
 laid before the Congress for its informa- ton.
 This careful examination into the tariff relations between the United States and
 Germany involved an inquiry into certain of our methods of administration which
 had been the cause of much complaint
 on the part of German exporters. In this
 inquiry became satisfied that certain vi-
 cious and unjustfable practices had grown up in our customs administration,
 notably the practice of determining val ues of imports upon detective reports
 never disclosed to the person whose in- terests were affected. The use of detec-
 tives though often necessary, tends to-
 wards abuse, and should be carefully
 guarded Under our practice as I found
 it to exist in this case the abuse had
 become gross and discreditable.
 Under it, instead of seeking informa-
 ton as to the market value of merchant
 disc from the well known and respected
 members of the commercial community
 in the country of It's production, secret
 statements were obtained from inform
 CTS and discharged employees and business rivals, and upon this kind of secret evil
 dence the values of imported goods were frequently raised and heavy penalties were frequently imposed upon importers
 who were never permitted to know what the evidence was and who never had an opportunity to meet 1t. It is quite prob able that this system tended towards an increase of the duties collected upon inn ported goods, but conceive 1t to be violation of law to exact more duties than the law provides, just as It is a vio-
 lation to admit goods upon the payment
 of less than the legal rate of duty. This
 ar,f tn tha cnir n
 American law and to American sense of
 justice. In the Judgement of the most competent experts of the treasury depart
 ment and the department of commerce
 and labor 1t was wholly unnecessary for
 the due collection of the customs reve-
 nues, and the attempt to defend 1t merely illustrates the demoralization which nat urally follows from a long continued
 course of reliance upon such methods.
 accordingly caused the regulations GOVT
 ering this branch of the customs service
 to be modified so that values are deter
 mined upon hearing in which all the
 parties interested have an opportunity to be heard and to know the evidence
 against them. Moreover our treasury agents are accredited to the government of the country in which they seek fnfor- nation, and in Germany receive the as- sstance of the quasi-off1cial chambers of commerce in determining the actual mar ket value or goods, III dccorudHce Witn
 what am advised to be the true con- structioI of the law.
 These changes of regulations were
 adapted to the removal of such manifest
 abuses that I have not felt that they ought to be confined to our relations with Germany; and have extended their op-
 eration to all other countries which have expressed desire to enter into similar administrative relations.
 China.
 ask for authority to reform the agree
 ment with China. under which the in-
 demnity of 1900 was fixed, by remitting
 and cancelling the obligations of China for the payment of all that part of the stipulated indemnity which is in excess of
 the sum of s11 ,65S. 60, and interest at { per cent. After the rescue of the for eign legations in PelSin during the Boxer troubles in 1900 the powers required from China the payment of equitable indemni- ties to the several nations and the final protocol under which the troops were withdrawn, signed at Picking. September 7 1901. fixed the amount of this indemnity allotted to the United States at over $20.- O00,0OO, and China paid, up to and includ- ing the 1st day of June, last. little over $6000, ,0o0 It was the first intention of this government at the proper time, when all claims had been presented and all ex- penses ascertained as fully as possible, to revise the estimates and account, and as proof of sincere friendship for China voluntarily to release that country from its legal liability for all payments in ex- cess of the sum which should prove to be