Count de
Lichterveld to Mr. Hay.
Legation of Belgium,
Washington, January 26,
1899.
Dear Mr. Hay: In compliance with the desire
which you were pleased to express to me this morning, I hasten to
communicate to you, unofficially, a copy of the letter which I have
received from Brussels relative to the passage in the President’s
message concerning the régime applied in Belgium to preserved and salted
meats.
I also send the inclosures which show what that regimé is.
Be pleased to accept, etc.,
[Inclosure.]
The terms in which Mr. McKinley has expressed himself on the subject
of the relations between the United States of America and Belgium,
and the interest which he manifests, especially in the development
of the transit trade, via Belgium, of American goods, have specially
attracted the attention of the King’s Government, which thinks that
it therein sees evidence of the friendly disposition of the American
Government toward us.
I need not tell you that the disposition of the Belgium Government is
the same, and that on its part it will spare no effort to promote
the development of commercial relations between the two
countries.
The President’s message alludes to difficulties met with by the
exportation to Belgium of salted or preserved meats from the United
States of America. When examined in a fiscal and sanitary point of
view the régime applied in Belgium to those goods involves no
measure that can be considered as a restriction of importation. I
think it well to point out to you exactly what the bases of that
régime are.
Preserved meats which have been simply cooked, smoked, or salted, are
exempted from the payment of any duty on their importation into
Belgium. It is only when they are otherwise prepared that they pay,
according to circumstances, a duty of 15 francs or 12 francs per 100
kilograms. You will find herewith the text of the customhouse
regulations on this subject.
In a sanitary point of view prepared or preserved meats from foreign
countries are merely subjected to an examination by experts, which
enables the competent authorities to be sure that the goods imported
are suitable for consumption, and that they may without danger be
sold to the public for food. These requirements are purely hygienic
precautions, and their application is general.
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