BULGARIA. COMMERCIAL TREATIES WITH GERMANY, GREAT BRITAIN, RUSSIA, FRANCE, AND ITALY. Diplomatic Agent Jackson to the Secretary of State. No. 101, Bulgarian Series.] [Extract.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Athens, February 2, 1906. SIR: Bulgaria's commercial treaties with Germany, Great Britain, Russia, France, and Italy went into effect on January 1; the commercial accord with Roumania has been prolonged until January 1, 1907, and Servian products are to receive most-favored-nation treatment. until March 1 next on condition of reciprocity. Most-favored-nation treatment is, I understand, to be accorded the products of countries with which no agreement has been made upon conditions of reciprocity until further notice. I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. Diplomatic Agent Jackson to the Secretary of State. No. 105, Bulgarian Series.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Athens, February 12, 1906. SIR: Referring to previous correspondence (dispatches Nos. 96 and 101), I have the honor to transmit herewith a pamphlet containing the French text of the treaties of commerce concluded by Bulgaria with France and Italy, both of which passed the Sobranje on the 5th instant. Both treaties, I understand, actually went into effect in accordance with arrangements made between the governments concerned on January 1/14. Both treaties (article 20 of that with France and article 19 of that with Italy provide that most-favored-nation treatment will not be applied in the case of customs union or where special favors are accorded to bordering states (Servia, Bulgaria, etc.) in order to facilitate trade across the frontier. In the French treaty (article 16) the eventual creation of monopolies in Bulgaria in regard to powder, tobacco, alcohol, salt, petroleum, matches, cigarette paper, and playing cards, is provided for. I have etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. a Filed in the Department of State. RECIPROCITY ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN BULGARIA AND THE UNITED STATES. Diplomatic Agent Jackson to the Secretary of State. No. 121. Bulgarian Series.] [Extracts.] AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: I have the honor to report that I addressed a note to the Bulgarian ministry of foreign affairs yesterday, stating that I was "authorized by my Government to propose that reciprocal most-favorednation treatment should continue to be applied in the commercial relations between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of Bulgaria." After the conclusion by Bulgaria of commercial treaties with Germany, Great Britain, Russia, France, and Italy, the Bulgarian Government decided to accord most-favored-nation treatment upon conditions of reciprocity, pending the conclusion of new agreements (dispatch No. 101), to the products of countries with which agreements had been made in the past. Subsequently I ascertained that some difference of opinion existed as to the exact manner in which American products should be treated. During my present visit to Bulgaria I have had several conversations in regard to this matter with Mr. Petkow, the minister of the interior, who is the actual leader of the party now holding office and who is temporarily acting as minister of foreign affairs (in the absence of General Petroff, who was sent to Madrid for the royal wedding), with officials of the foreign office, and with others and the result has been the sending of the note mentioned above. I felt authorized to do this on the strength of the department's instructions, Nos. 16, 19, and 22 of this series, of April 27, 1905, and February 17 and March 30, 1906, respectively. I called attention to the contents of the first of these instructions, which had been duly communicated to the foreign office at the time it was received. I left with Mr. Petkow a copy of the President's recent proclamation in regard to "Reciprocity with Germany," as well as an original copy of the German law extending to American products the benefits of Germany's latest commercial treaties. The understanding is that the Bulgarian ministry of foreign affairs will send me at once a note accepting my "proposition" and that a decree (ukase) will be printed in the Official Gazette (as was done. in the case of Belgium, Roumania, and other countries with which no new commercial agreements have yet been made), extending to American commerce the benefits accorded by the five commercial treaties mentioned above. What these benefits are can be ascertained most conveniently by reference to a British parliamentary paper ("Translation of the New Customs Tariff of Bulgaria, modified by Commercial Conventions with the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Italy, 1906") in which the autonomous and conventional tariff rates are given in parallel columns, which was published a short time ago, and which I presume to be on file at the department. In return, it is expected that the President will issue a proclamation in regard to Bulgaria, similar to that which was issued recently in regard to Germany, at the earliest practicable date. I have been careful to explain that the right is reserved to revise the American tariff at any time, and nothing has been said in regard to the period during which the proposed understanding shall continue. In this way we may obtain most-favored-nation treatment from Bulgaria for the present at least and until further notice of some kind is given. I shall inform you at once on the receipt of the Bulgarian minister's answer to my note, and on the publication of the anticipated princely decree, and I hope to be informed that my action in this matter has met with your approval. I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. Diplomatic Agent Jackson to the Secretary of State. No. 130. Bulgarian Series.] AMERICAN LEGATION, SIR: Referring to my dispatch No. 121, of the 6th instant, from Sofia, I have the honor to inclose herewith a copy and translation of a note which I have just received from General Petroff, the Bulgarian minister of foreign affairs. In this note, which is dated June 6/19, the Bulgarian Government accepts the proposition made by me, in the name of the American Government, in my note of June 5, that "reciprocal most-favored-nation treatment should continue to be applied in the commercial relations between the Government of the United States and the Government of Bulgaria." By a telegram which I have received from General Petroff to-day, I am informed the arrangement (granting to our commerce the benefits of the commercial conventions recently concluded by Bulgaria with other countries) was put into effect ("mis en vigueur ") from the date of my note, and I am promised another note to explain to me why no princely ukase was considered necessary. I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. A PROCLAMATION. Whereas the Government of the Principality of Bulgaria has taken action, extending, on and after June 5, 1906, and until further notice, to the products of the soil or industry of the United States, the benefit of the Bulgarian conventional customs tariff rates, the same being the lowest rates applied by Bulgaria to the like products of any other country, by which action in the judgment of the President reciprocal and equivalent concessions are established in favor of the said products of the United States: Now, therefore, be it known that I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority conferred by the third section of the tariff act of the United States, approved July 24, 1897, do hereby suspend, during the continuance in force of the said concessions by the Government of the Principality of Bul garia, the imposition and collection of the duties imposed by the first section of said act upon the articles hereinafter specified, being the products of the soil or industry of Bulgaria; and do declare in place thereof the following rates of duty provided in the third section of said act to be in force and effect on and after September 30, 1906, of which the officers and citizens of the United States will take due notice, namely: Upon argols, or crude tartar, or wine lees, crude, five per centum ad valorem. Upon brandies or other spirits manufactured or distilled from grain or other materials, one dollar and seventy-five cents per proof gallon. Upon still wines and vermuth in casks, thirty-five cents per gallon; in bottles or jugs, per case of one dozen bottles or jugs containing each not more than one quart and more than one pint, or twenty-four bottles or jugs containing each not more than one pint, one dollar and twentyfive cents per case, and any excess beyond these quantities found in such bottles or jugs shall be subject to a duty of four cents per pint or fractional part thereof, but no separate or additional duty shall be assessed upon the bottles or jugs. Upon paintings in oil or water colors, pastels, pen and ink drawings, and statuary, fifteen per centum ad valorem. In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington this fifteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred and six, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and thirty-first. ATHENS, September 18, 1906. (States that the Bulgarian Government wishes to confirm the reciprocal arrangement in force since last June by the exchange of formal notes between the American diplomatic agent and the minister for foreign affairs. Requests instructions.) Diplomatic Agent Jackson to the Secretary of State. No. 150. Bulgarian Series.] AMERICAN LEGATION, Athens, September 18, 1906. SIR: I have the honor to confirm the telegram just sent you, as follows: " a Supra. As yet no acknowledgment has been received from the department of the receipt of my Bulgarian dispatches Nos. 121 and 130, of June 6 and 25, respectively. It will be remembered that in view of previous instructions I felt authorized to propose that "reciprocal most-favored-nation treatment should continue to be applied in the commercial relations" between the United States and Bulgaria, and that the Bulgarian Government accepted my proposition, and put the arrangement in force on June 5 last, the date of the proposition. Yesterday I received a note from the ministry of foreign affairs at Sofia, confirming the above, but stating that it was considered desirable, in order to conform with usage, that there should be an exchange of formal notes "establishing the reciprocal application of the treatment of the countries." The Bulgarian authorities would like to have the contemplated exchange of notes taken place at Sofia before the end of October, if possible. I have written to Sofia at once for a draft of the proposed notes, and shall submit the same to you, when received, without delay. I have, etc., JOHN B. JACKSON. The Secretary of State to Diplomatic Agent Jackson. [Telegram.-Paraphrase.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, September 24, 1906. (Informs him that the President signed, September 15, a proclamation of a commercial arrangement with Bulgaria, to take effect. September 30. States that a formal exchange of notes may be made reciting date if practicable. Reply to his telegram of September 18.) The Secretary of State to Diplomatic Agent Jackson. No. 35, Bulgarian Series.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, October 6, 1906. SIR: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 150, Bulgarian series, of the 18th ultimo confirming your telegram of the same date regarding the wishes of the Bulgarian Government to confirm the reciprocal commercial agreement between the two countries by an exchange of formal notes between yourself and the minister for foreign affairs. In reply I have to say that the commercial agreement having become effective by the President's proclamation, copies of which have been mailed to you, the proposed exchange of notes may simply serve as an international record of the agreement so reached. I am, etc., E. ROOT. |