No. 464.
Mr. Coleman to Mr. Bayard.
Legation of
the United States,
Berlin, July 2, 1888.
(Received July 14.)
No. 635.
Sir: I have the honor, recurring to the minister’s
dispatch, No. 595, of March 22 last, to transmit herewith further
correspondence* with our consul-general at
Frankfort-on the-Main and with Mr. Samuel R. Honey,
[Page 643]
touching a tax imposed by the Prussian authorities of
that city upon “the income expended by Mr. Honey’s wife, who has been long
sojourning there with her daughter, and also a copy of a brief note I have
to-day addressed to Count Bismarck, requesting him to kindly cause Mr.
Honey’s appeal to the Prussian minister of finance to be conveyed to its
destination.
I have undertaken to thus convey the appeal in question for the reason that
it had been prepared and signed by Consul-General Mueller, who can not with
propriety address himself directly to the Prussian minister of finance, but
who has throughout; acted as Mr. Honey’s agent in corresponding with local
authorities in relation to the tax complained of by that gentleman, and who
appears to be familiar with all its details.
The correspondence inclosed herewith will speak for itself. The documents
referred to in Mr. Mueller’s letter have been heretofore transmitted to you
with the dispatch above referred to.
Trusting my course in relation to this matter may meet with your
approval,
I have, etc.,
[Inclosure 1 in No. 635.]
Mr. Mueller to Mr.
Pendleton.
[Extract.]
Consulate-General of the United States,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, June 30, 1888.
Sir: At the special request of Mr. Honey, now
here on a short visit, I have the honor to transmit to you for
examination and such action as you may think expedient, a written appeal
to the minister of finance at Berlin, with seven inclosures, and also a
letter of Mr. Honey addressed to you.
You will perceive by perusal of the papers that the remedies provided for
by the income-tax law have been exhausted, and that no course is left to
be pursued except an appeal to the minister of finance, which, as
competent lawyers inform me, is permitted and frequently resorted
to.
I have no doubt in my mind, and lawyers concur in my opinion, that the
tax assessment is not warranted or authorized by the income-tax law, and
that the holdings of the assessing board and district commission are
clearly erroneous and untenable; and inasmuch as the question involved
is of great consequence to married ladies temporarily staying in
Germany, and as the Honey matter presents all the disputed points in the
case, I can not help thinking that it is worth the best efforts to
invoke a decision of the highest administrative tribunal thereon.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
[Inclosure 4 in No. 635.]
Mr. Coleman to Mr.
Mueller.
[Extract.]
Legation of the United States of America,
Berlin, July 1, 1888.
No. 3083.]
Sir: I have to-day received your letter of
yesterday with its inclosures.
Realizing that your appeal to the Prussian minister of finance could not
with propriety be transmitted by you directly to its destination, I
shall, pursuant to your request, transmit it to its address through the
proper channel.
I remain, etc.,
[Page 644]
[Inclosure 5 in No. 635.]
Mr. Coleman to
Count Bismarck.
Legation of the United States of America,
Berlin, July 2, 1888.
F. O. No. 376.]
The undersigned, chargé d’affaires ad interim of
the United States of America, has the honor to request that his
excellency Count von Bisrnarck-Schönhausen, imperial secretary of state
for foreign affairs, will permit him to avail himself of the kind
mediation of the foreign office for the conveyance to its destination of
an appeal addressed to the royal Prussian minister of finance by the
consul-general of the United States at Frankfort-on-the-Main, which
relates to the imposition by the authorities of that city of certain
taxation upon income expended there by the wife of Mr. Samuel R. Honey,
an American citizen.
The undersigned, while inclosing the appeal above referred to, avails,
etc.
[Inclosure 6 in No.
635.—Translation.]
appeal to prussian minister of
finance.
Consulate-General of the United States of
America,
Frankfort-on-the-Main, June 30, 1888.
At the request of Mr. Honey, attorney at law, of Newport, R. I., United
States of America, I have the honor to appeal to the high ministry
against the decision, of which a copy is inclosed, of the income-tax
district commission at Wiesbaden of February 29, 1888, according to
which the classified income tax assessed against Mr. Honey is declared
to be just and his remonstrance against the Same unfounded.
The grounds upon which objection was made to the lawfulness of that tax
assessment before the assessment and district commission will be found
stated in the inclosures 1, 2, and 3, which I beg to recapitulate here.
They are the following:
- (1)
- That it is not contested that Mr. Honey is an American
citizen, conducting his law practice at Newport, R. I., United
States of America, and having there his actual and lawful
domicile.
- (2)
- That Mr. Honey never had a residence in Germany, and that in
the Kingdom of Prussia he has never had either property,
business, or income.
- (3)
- That the temporary sojourn of Mrs. Honey and daughter at
Frankfort can not change the domicile of her husband in Rhode
Island.
- (4)
- That Mrs. Honey has neither business, property, or income of
any description in Germany; that rather her support and the
expenditure of herself and daughter, who is attending the school
of music, are met and defrayed exclusively with pecuniary means
which are earned by her husband at his American home, taxed
there, and sent here at his pleasure.
The decision of the royal district commission is based on the theory that
Mr. Honey has a domicile at Frankfort in the sense of the Jaw applying
to the subject, because tie dwelling occupied and arranged by them for
permanent sojourn afforded his wife and daughter a shelter corresponding
with their circumstances, and I beg to remark with respect to this
supposition that it is an erroneous one, as Mrs. Honey has not arranged
any dwelling, but has simply rented furnished rooms for a short period,
and that all the furniture belongs to the landlady and owner of the
house.
In conclusion, I beg to add to this appeal the request that the high
ministry may be pleased to direct that the sum of 111 marks 60 pfenning,
which, pursuant to the inclosed receipt, Mrs. Honey has paid to the
Royal kreis treasury, in order that she might no longer be exposed to
annoyances from the tax collector, be returned. I have the honor to
subscribe myself, with distinguished consideration,
Jacob Mueller,
Consul-General.
