693.11245 Foster-McClellan Co./4
The Acting Secretary of State to the Chargé in China (Perkins)
Sir: The Department has received the Legation’s despatch No. 2453 dated November 29, 1929, transmitting a copy of despatch No. 6261 dated November 20, 1929, from the American Consul General at Shanghai, enclosing copies of certain forms used in connection with the application for, and issuance of, inward and outward transit passes.2
An examination of the translation made of the inward transit pass covering foreign goods shipped to the interior shows that the Chinese authorities declare thereon that on presentation of the pass at the customs barriers en route, the shipment of goods listed in the pass will be released without further taxation. A similar declaration, although not in so definite a form, appears on the outward transit pass covering native goods purchased in the interior for shipment abroad.
In view of these declarations, the Department considers that by accepting transit dues and issuing a transit pass, the Chinese authorities enter into a contract exempting the goods covered by the pass from further inland charges in transit, and the Department concurs in the view expressed on page two of the Legation’s despatch No. 2217 dated July 19, 1929,3 that when goods covered by a transit pass are subjected to further taxation while en route to their destination, [Page 278] a protest may properly be made at the request of the American interest concerned.
I am [etc.]