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Show iFUi-iERiSi Anicrica Concedes a 20 per Cent Abatement in Duties on Champagne. FRANCE CONFIRMS LOW TARIFF NOW ACCORDED International, Commission to Consider Amendments to Trade Regulations. ' WASHINGTON", Jan. 28. The President Pres-ident late today issued a proclamation announcing conclusion of the Frunco- American reciprocity arrangements drawn under Section 'J of the DingJcy net, Uuiler it America concedes a 20 per cent nbatcmcnt in'duties on champagne cham-pagne ami sparkling wines imported into this county, and Franco confirms the minimum tnrifi" rate now accorded American products. Other importuut provisions are mndc. including creation of a commission to consider possible amendments to Uin f.rmlo regulations in Trance and America. The proclamation procla-mation follows: " Whereas. The government of the United States and the government of the Fronch republic have entered into an udditional commercinl agreement,, signed on the 23th day of January, .1008, by which the application of the minimum ralo under the third section of the tariff act. of the United States, approved July iM, 1807, -to champagne and ail other sparking wines is provided pro-vided for in return for certain npecific concessions in favor of. products of the United Slates, including Porto liico, which r.onccKsions, in the judgment judg-ment of the President, arc reciprocal and equivalent; therefore, be it Imposition Suspondcd. "Known, that T, Theodore Eoosovelc. President of the United States of America, do hereby conditionally suspend sus-pend from the first day of Fobruary, 1 DOS. and during the time and in accordance ac-cordance with tho terms of the aforesaid afore-said additional agreement, signed .lan- tiary 28, 190S. the imposition and col lection of the duties imposed by the I first section of said act. upon the articles arti-cles hereinafter specified, being the products of the soil ihd industry of France; and do declare in place thereof the rates of dutj' provided in t.hc third section of said act to be in fore'e, as "On champagne and all other sparkling spark-ling wines, iu bottle, containing not more than one quart and more than one pint, six dollars per dozen; containing not. more than one pint each and more than ono half-pint, three dollars per dozen; containing onchalf pint each or less, ono dollar ami fifty cents per dozcb; in bottles or other vessels containing con-taining more than ono quart each, iu addition 10 six dollars per dozen on tho quantities in excess of one quart, HK i j at the rate of ouc dollar and niuely HI ' cenLs per gallon. Bi, Teatnirc of Agreement. H: "' i Accompanying tho proclamation is Lc$ the text of hn agreement signed today, H. I ;j tho feature of which, in addition to ;'j lhe statement of now duties on fchaiu- B. y pagne. is found iu article one, which reads as follows: t "It is agreed on the part; of the I .French government that the applicn- f ti'jn of the duties of the general tariff I to coffee, cocoa, chocolate, vanilja and other food products known in the ! French tarifl' law as "dengrecs colon- I iales de eonsoinoiauon," except sugar j and its biproducts and tobacco pro- I ilucls of the United States, including I Porto Rico, shall he conditionally sus- i pended. and that tho said products phall be admitted into France and Al- i geria at The rates of the minimum tar- ! iff or at tho lowest rates applied to j the like products of 11113" foreign ori- ' "In addition, mineral oils from tho I United States and coming under the decree of July 7, shall upon entry 1 intolerance and Algeria enjoy the ben- I efits of the lowest rates of duly, j "But it is expressly understood that 1 t.henc concessions may be withdrawn in the discretion o tho President of j the French republic whenever addi- Vional duties beyond those now existing and which may be deemed by him unjust un-just to the commerce of France, shall bo imposed by the United States on products of France." May Withdraw Concessions. Following the statement of the. champagne cham-pagne duties is a paragraph similar to the nbove, except that it authorizes the President to withdraw concessions to France in case increased duties are levied. Article 3 of the agreement follows: fol-lows: "It is furt her agreed- that inasmuch as complaints have arisen in both countries coun-tries regarding the effect of the regulations regula-tions in force in the respective countries coun-tries affecting admission of each other's products, and to the end that if there be in the. regularion of either country any provisions which unnecessarily restrict re-strict trade, such provisions may bo modified, and thc cause of complaint romoved, a commission of three experts ex-perts shall be appointed by the government govern-ment of the United States and a like commission of throe experts shall bo appointed by the' government, of Franco. Such commissions shall in conference', each with tho other, inquire in-quire to ascertain fully- the-'existing conditions in each country as bearing on the necessity of the rcgulationu at-fect.ing at-fect.ing thf. trade of the other country, and as bearing upon the practicabilitv of reciprocal tariff concessions. Eacli coininiHsi7h shall report to its own government thereon. "Tt is further agreed that- upon the basis of the reports so made the two governments shall enter upon an exchange ex-change of views to the ,cnd that if possible pos-sible all cause of complaint in their respective regulations regarding admission ad-mission of any of the products of either country to the other may be removed." Iu the prccediug T rnnco-American rcciprocit3 agreement made in 1902, tho duty on American coffee (nearly all from Porto Rico) was suspended for one year,' at the expiration of which timo "heavy duties were to be applied. The French government at that time was desirous of securing a reduction of tho. American duty on champagne, but. this was denied by our government govern-ment on tho ground that, the agreement of J902 practically contained in itself that degree of equivalency eontemplat-I eontemplat-I ed by the Dinjjley act and that to make further concessions to Franco would be to bestow upon her a preponderance of favors exchanged. Put, this government govern-ment promised that if in the future reduced duties on champagne were granted to any other nation the same privilege would be extended to FVcnch champagnes. So the French government, govern-ment, for more than four .years has delayed de-layed the application of duties on Porto Pican coft'ocs, and it has done more, in the opinion of the state department de-partment officials. It, has resisted the demand 00 American olive growers for the application of maximum duties ou American cottonseed oil, which competes com-petes with olive oil, nud it has refused lo accede to the demands of Russia, France's ally, for increased duties on American petroleum in tho interest of the Baku product. There also has been a. strong demand for additional duties on American shoes and many other articles in the interest of French manufacturers, man-ufacturers, The Fronch government has declined to accode to all of these internal demands for discrimination against America. Put the conclusion of the reciprocit3" arrangement with Germany, whereby German champagnes cham-pagnes and sparkling wines were granted grant-ed an abatement; of 20 per cent on dut3 brought matters to a focus, and the French government, pointing out the extent of the concessions afforded to American trade and recalling a promise prom-ise heretofore made, suggested that French champagnes also should bo granted the same rates of duties accorded ac-corded to German champagnes, and this is a basis for the arrangement concluded conclud-ed today between the two governments. |
