611.125/99
The Secretary of State to the Mexican Ambassador (Téllez)
Excellency: With reference to your note of January 21 and the Department’s reply of February 131 concerning Article XIII of the proposed treaty governing the admission of animals from either country into the other, I have the honor to inform you of the receipt [Page 314] of a letter of February 8 from the Secretary of Agriculture, from which I quote the following:
“With your communication there was enclosed the translation of a letter to you from the Mexican Ambassador setting forth an amended form of Article 13 of the Convention as that Government would like to have it worded. This form is so nearly the exact equivalent of the form suggested in my letter to you of October 20, 1926,32 in the same matter, that I should have been glad to give it iny approval had I not found that, apparently by oversight, some very important words have been entirely omitted in the next to the last line of the Article as so amended.
“The purpose of this Article is to provide that certificates given by the veterinarians of either country should be accepted as proof that proper examination and tests have been made prior to offering the animals for import, but that such certificates were not to preclude further examination by either country before entry to determine whether the animals were actually free from disease or exposed thereto, before they were permitted entry. The words just underscored33 constitute the omission above referred to and the inclusion of this provision is most important—and equally to each country,—because it is quite possible, in cases where certificates are given in the interior of the country, that, in the movement of the animals to the border, they may become exposed to disease and that information might be secured to that effect before the animals were actually entered. Of course, neither country would be willing to admit animals thus exposed and yet, by the Article in its present amended form, the only ground of exclusion of such cattle after the certificates had been given would be a subsequent finding that the animals were actually diseased.
“In view of the above, I take the liberty to suggest that the form presented by His Excellency, the Mexican Ambassador, be amended in just one place, that is by adding after the word ‘diseases’, in the next to the last line, a comma and the words ‘or exposure thereto’ followed by a comma. The Article as already suggested by the Mexican Ambassador but with the added words underscored33 in accordance with the above suggestion would then read as follows:
“‘Article 13.—The certificates of inspection and disclosing tests issued by duly authorized veterinarians of either country shall be accepted as proof that such inspection and tests have been made; but in the cases in which live-stock intended for importation into either of the two countries is concerned, the issuance of the said certificates shall not preclude further examination of such animals nor proper investigation in order to determine whether or not they are free from diseases, or exposure thereto, before the permit for entry is issued.’
“As so worded, Article 13 of the Convention has my entire approval.”
You are requested to be so kind as to inform the Department whether the Mexican Government will agree to Article XIII of the proposed treaty with the amendment proposed by the Secretary of Agriculture.
Accept [etc.]