Mr. Herdliska to
Mr. Hay.
United
States Legation,
Vienna, February 15,
1899.
No. 126.]
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the
receipt of your dispatch to Mr. Tower, No. 199, of the 25th of January,
1899, inclosing for the information of this legation a “copy of a letter
from the Secretary of Agriculture relative to the complaint of the
Cudahy Packing Company of South Omaha, Nebr., that the Austrian
Government is enforcing a new ministerial decree which exacts the
payment of duty on the salt in which meats are packed in addition to the
duty collected on the meats themselves.”
In obedience to the instruction contained in this dispatch, “to
investigate the matter promptly and to report the result to the
Department,” I have this day, after having previously had a conference
upon the subject with the Count Welsersheimb, first assistant secretary
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of the ministry of foreign
affairs, at which I was assured that the matter would be promptly
investigated, addressed to the Count Goluchowski, Imperial and Royal
minister of foreign affairs, a note, a copy of which is respectfully
submitted herewith, in which, after having set forth the complaint made
by the Cudahy Packing Company to the Secretary of Agriculture, I have
submitted that, “as the pork packers of America consider this decree a
hardship, amounting almost to a prohibition of the import into
Austria-Hungary of American meats,” I respectfully request that your
excellency may cause this matter to be investigated, to the end that
this unjust exaction may be abolished and American meats be permitted to
enter the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the conditions heretofore
existing.
As soon as a reply is received from the Austro-Hungarian Government upon
this subject I shall at once communicate the same to the Department.
I have, etc.,
Charles V. Herdlisea,
Chargé d’Affaires ad
Interim.
[Inclosure.]
Mr. Herdliska
to Count Goluchowski.
United States Legation,
Vienna, February 15,
1899.
Your Excellency: A complaint has been made
to the Department of State at Washington, through the Secretary of
Agriculture, by the Cudahy Packing Company of South Omaha, Nebr., to
the effect that a new ministerial decree is being enforced by the
Imperial and Royal customs authorities at Trieste which exacts the
payment of duty on the salt in which the meats from the United
States are packed, in addition to the duty collected on the meats
themselves.
It is the practice of American pork packers to pack the meats
intended for export in a large quantity of salt in order the better
to preserve them during transit.
This salt is a coarse mixture of saltpeter and sea salt, and is
termed “Conservierungssalz.” It is packed around each piece of meat
separately and also between the layers of meat, which is contained
in strong cases, the weight of a packed case being about 250
kilograms.
In the process of transportation the salt which has been thus placed
around and between the meat becomes shaken to the bottom and sides
of the cases.
Now, what these American meat shippers above referred to complain of
is that the Imperial and Royal customs officers gather up this loose
salt which falls out when the cases are opened and charge duty upon
it, the same as if it were meat.
Heretofore, the complainants state, it has been the practice of the
Imperial and Royal customs officials to disregard this superfluous
packing salt and duty has been levied only on the meat itself; but
now these officials levy the duty not only on the meat, but also on
this worthless salt, treating it as if it were meat.
As the pork packers of the United States of America consider this
decree a hardship, amounting almost to a prohibition of the import
into Austria-Hungary of American meats, I respectfully request that
[Page 43]
your excellency may
cause the matter to be investigated to the end that this unjust
exaction may be abolished and American meats be permitted to enter
the Austro-Hungarian Empire under the conditions heretofore
existing.
I avail myself, etc.,
Charles V. Herdliska,
Chargé d’Affaires ad
Interim.
