693.11245/29
The Minister in China (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 10.]
Sir: I have the honor to refer to the Department’s instruction to the Legation No. 1112, June 19, 1933,41 in regard to the enforcement of Chinese Maritime Customs [Regulations and the Rules of 1868 for joint investigation in cases of confiscation and fine by the Customs House authorities.42
In compliance with the Department’s directions, I have taken advantage of every opportune occasion to press for a more satisfactory handling of such cases.
I have been informed by the Inspectorate General of Customs that it had nothing to do with the ruling of the Chinese Government to the effect that the Sino-American Tariff Treaty of 192843 removed any necessity for investigations under the provisions of the Rules of 1868. It maintains that that ruling was made by the Customs Administration of the Ministry of Finance.
In a conversation, Sir Frederick W. Maze, the Inspector General of Customs, requested that he be supplied with a list of the cases in which we consider that the Customs have acted arbitrarily toward American firms. Although I did not deem it advisable to supply him with a complete list of all cases which have come to the attention of the Legation within recent years, upon my return to Peiping, I sent him a list of the principal cases and endeavored to point out to him wherein I felt the Customs had acted arbitrarily. A copy of this letter is enclosed41 for the Department’s information.
Also as of interest to the Department, there is enclosed a copy of a letter from the Counselor of Legation at Nanking41 reporting a conversation had by him with Mr. L. K. Little, an American citizen who occupies a position of trust on the staff of the Inspector General. Mr. Little expressed the opinion “That the Maritime Customs deserves, as an institution, the support of the American Legation; he feels that the continued existence and operation of the Customs is a positive benefit to foreign trade in general, including American.” He gave to the Counselor of Legation the impression that the Maritime Customs has many enemies among the Chinese, and that if its present [Page 574] organization is to be continued, it must be supported by the Legations. He suggested that it would be beneficial to all concerned if the Legation and the Inspectorate General were to talk over causes of complaint unofficially before the Legation takes them up with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
There is also enclosed a copy of my reply to the Counselor of Legation45 reminding him that in each of the recent cases of complaint against the action of the Customs House authorities the Legation first endeavored to get satisfactory action by the Inspectorate General before recourse was had to the Foreign Office, but that apparently there had been no disposition on the part of the Inspectorate General to meet us in a very reasonable spirit.
In setting forth the Legation’s views upon this matter, I assured the Counselor of Legation that we have no desire to quarrel with the Customs, and that we have always been mindful of the advantage to American and foreign trade of a cordial and sustained support of the Customs administration as now organized. At the same time, however, I explained to him that there are certain fundamental principles to which we must adhere, and while I was ready to concede the difficulties confronting a customs administration having to function alongside foreign extraterritorial regimes in China, and while I was disposed to go along patiently in working out our problems, I felt that we must have an eye to the future and look consistently to the acknowledgement and acceptance of the principle that in disputes between merchants and Customs there must always be an orderly process for fair and open hearing and just and equitable settlement. I expressed the opinion that if we concede to the present administration of the Customs arbitrary powers of confiscation, seizure, fines and penalties, without reserving to the merchant the right of fair and open hearing in review of the action of local Commissioners of Customs, we are laying up much trouble for the future.
The Department will be kept currently informed of further developments in regard to this matter.
Respectfully yours,
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- Foreign Relations, 1868, pt. 1, p. 527.↩
- Signed at Peking, July 25, 1928, ibid., 1928, vol. ii, p. 475.↩
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