The Residency-General having, in its Note of acknowledgment dated June
4th, 1928, (Enclosures Nos. 2 and 2A)3 appeared to contest the admissibility in principle,
of the American Government’s demand for the refund of the unauthorized
increases, which have been unduly collected upon American vessels, I
have deemed it necessary to oppose to that Note the arguments set forth
in my communication to the Residency-General dated December 3rd, 1928,
(Enclosure No. 3).4 The text of this communication, as the
Department will [Page 484] perceive, from
the copy of the Residency’s Note dated January 18th, 1929, (Enclosures
Nos. 4 and 4A),4a has
been transmitted to the French Government in Paris.
I beg therefore respectfully to submit to the Department the entire
correspondence exchanged on the subject between the Protectorate
Government at Rabat and the American Diplomatic Agency at Tangier. I
believe that the self explanatory character of this correspondence will
dispense with any further comment on my part, except to explain that my
Note to the Residency of March 10th, 1928, mentioned on pages 4 and 5 of
Enclosure No. 3, is practically a textual reproduction of the
Department’s Instruction No. 461 of February 20th, 1928, (File No.
881.512/55).5
In conclusion, I trust that the Department will approve the terms of my
Note to the Residency-General of France under date of December 3rd, 1928
(Enclosure No. 3), and I feel confident that it will support the
position which I have taken in the matter.
[Enclosure]
The American Diplomatic Agent and Consul General
at Tangier (Blake) to the French
Resident General in Morocco (Steeg)
Tangier, December 3,
1928.
Mr. Resident-General: Mr. H. Earle Russell,
American Consul in Casablanca, acting under instructions from this
Legation, has been in correspondence with the local Authorities of
that city, looking to the refund of an increase of 20 per cent on
Pilotage Dues, irregularly and illegally collected from American
vessels prior to the United States Government’s assent to the
imposition of this additional taxation on its citizens and proteges
in Morocco. The American Consul now transmits to me the substance of
a communication dated November 19th, 1928, from the aforesaid
Authorities, to the effect that the matter is to be treated in
accordance with the terms of a Note on the subject, which has been
addressed by the Residency-General of France at Rabat to the
American Diplomatic Agency at Tangier.
Reference is evidently made to Your Excellency’s Note No. 169 of June
4th, 1928, which replied to my two letters advising you of the
conditions under which my Government would render applicable to
American ressortissants in the Zone of the
French Protectorate, the increments, decreed by Dahirs of January
10th, and May 28th, 1928, on the Consumption Tax on Sugar and on the
Pilotage Dues at the Port of Casablanca. This Note was accidentally
filed away, at the time of its receipt, without having been brought
to my notice. It is therefore [Page 485] only now that I have become acquainted with Your
Excellency’s observations on the subject of my Government’s request
that the Maghzen shall cause to be refunded the amounts referred to
in the preceding paragraph.
Your Excellency alleges that compliance on the part of the Shereefian
Government with this request, is impossible since such
reimbursements would produce a privileged situation in favor of
American ressortissants, incompatible,
moreover with the principles of my second reservation, which
stipulates equal application of the decreed taxation to the
nationals and proteges of all Powers. Consequently, I have the honor
to set forth hereunder divers considerations, which in my
submission, conclusively overrule these objections on your part.
As Your Excellency is aware, the existing treaties, to which the
Shereefian Empire and the United States are parties, categorically
debar the former from imposing upon the nationals of the United
States, any taxation whatsoever, except the Customs Duties and
certain other Taxes which are specified in the said treaties. The,
previous consent of the United States Government is therefore
essential before any fiscal innovation can be legally enforced upon
its citizens and proteges. It is furthermore beyond dispute that the
American Government enjoys the fullest liberty to grant or to
withhold, as it may think fit, its assent to the application to
American ressortissants in the Shereefian
Empire of any legislation or fiscal enactments introduced by the
Moroccan Government. It is obvious then that the levy upon American
ressortissants of taxation which has not
received the required assent of the United States Government,
constitutes an infraction by the Shereefian Government of the
pertinent treaty provisions, and that restitution of such illegally
collected taxation is a necessary and normal factor in the
adjustment of the violation of American treaty rights.
In these circumstances it is idle to contend that the redress due on
account of the failure of the Maghzen properly to observe its treaty
obligations, must be withheld on the grounds that there would
thereby arise a privileged situation for American nationals.
Reference, in this connection, to the American Government’s
reservation as to the equal application of fiscal measures to the
nationals of all Powers is likewise irrelevant, since it is obvious
that the sole object of such reservation is to provide a safeguard
against the possibility of Shereefian decrees eventually placing
American interests in Morocco in a situation of inferiority as
compared with those of some other Power.
In reference to the concluding paragraph of Your Excellency’s Note
hereby acknowledged, I would again recall to the Shereefian
Government, [Page 486] that the
Franco-German Accord of 19116 and the Franco-Moroccan Treaty of
March 30th, 1912,7 to which the United States are
not a party, and to which the American Government has not
subsequently given its adhesion, can have no restrictive effect
whatever upon any of the rights and privileges in Morocco which the
United States derives from anterior treaties and conventions.
The position which was taken in Your Excellency’s Note upon the point
at issue, is furthermore in logical contradiction with the practice
adopted, in the premises, by the Protectorate Government itself, for
it is very evident that the latter’s customary appeal to the United
States to make new Shereefian legislation applicable to American ressortissants is susceptible of no other
construction but as an admission, by the Maghzen, of its
constitutional inability to enforce its decrees upon American
citizens and proteges in Morocco, in the absence of appropriate
action on the part of the Washington Government.
It will be sufficient for me to refer Your Excellency to the
suggestions contained in my Note of March 10th, 1928,8 in order to make it clear
that the American Government, notwithstanding the unqualified nature
of its rights in the matter, is not actuated by a desire to avail
itself of such rights for the purpose of securing a privileged
situation of fiscal immunity for its nationals in Morocco. At the
same time, it has no alternative but to insist upon an effective
observance by the Shereefian Authorities of its existing treaty
rights and privileges, and accordingly its assent must, in each
instance, be formally solicited and obtained before new fiscal
charges or any other legislation can be applied, by the agents of
the Maghzen, to American citizens and proteges. The claims mentioned
in the introductory paragraph of this communication, have arisen as
the result of failure on the part of the Residency-General to
observe the indicated procedure, at the proper time, in connection
with the Dahirs under discussion.
If the objections set forth in Your Excellency’s Note were to be
admitted, the formal application required from the Shereefian
Government for the assent of the Secretary of State to Moroccan
decrees, would resolve itself into a meaningless, perfunctory
formality, resulting in the stultification of those very treaty
rights, which the procedure is designed to protect. Such a position
is obviously untenable.
In conclusion, I venture to express the hope that, in the light of
the foregoing exposition, Your Excellency will, upon
reconsideration, be good enough to instruct the appropriate
Authorities at Casablanca to [Page 487] restitute the amounts of taxation unduly levied upon American
concerns, when their corresponding claims shall be presented by the
American Consul in that city.
Please accept [etc.]
