Appendix B.

RECIPROCAL COMMERCIAL

ARRANGEMENT BETWEEN THE

UNITED STATES AND NICARAGUA.

Whereas, pursuant to section 3 of the act of Congress approved October 1, 1890, entitled "An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties on imports, and for other purposes," the Secretary of State of the United States of America communicated to the Government of Nicaragua the action of the Congress of the United States of America, with a view to secure reciprocal trade, in declaring the articles enumerated in said section 3 to be exempt from duty upon their importation into the United States of America;

And whereas the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of Nicaragua at Washington has communicated to the Secretary of State the fact that, in reciprocity for the admission into the United States of America free of all duty of the articles enumerated in section 3 of said act, the Government of Nicaragua will, by due legal enactment, admit free of all duty, from and after April 15, 1892, into all the ports of entry of Nicaragua, the articles of merchandise named in the following schedule, provided that the same be the product of the United States:

SCHEDULE OF ARTICLES WHICH THE REPUBLIC OF NICARAGUA WILL ADMIT FREE OF ALL KIND OF DUTY.

1. Animals, live.

2. Barley, Indian corn, wheat, oats, rye, and rice.

3. Seeds of all kinds for agriculture and horticulture.

4. Live plants of all kinds.

5. Corn meal.

6. Starch.

7. Beans, potatoes, and all other vegetables, fresh or dried.

8. Fruits, fresh or dried.

9. Hay, bran, and straw for forage.

10. Cotton-seed oil and all other products of said seed.

11. Tar, resin, and turpentine.

12. Asphalt, crude or manufactured in blocks.

13. Quicksilver for mining purposes.

14. Coal, mineral or animal.

15. Fertilizers for land.

16. Lime and cement.

17. Wood and lumber, in the rough, or prepared for building purposes. 18. Houses of wood or iron.

19. Marble, in the rough or dressed, for fountains, gravestones, and building purposes.

zo. Tools and implements for agricultural and horticultural purposes. 21. Wagons, carts, and handcarts.

22. Iron and steel, in rails for railroads and other similar uses, and structural iron and steel for bridges and building purposes.

23. Wire, for fences, with or without barbs, clamps, posts, clips, and other accessories, of wire not less than 3 lines in diameter.

24. Machinery of all kinds for agricultural purposes, arts, and trades, and parts of such machinery.

25. Motors of steam or animal power.

26. Forges, water pumps of metal, pump hose, sledge hammers, drills for mining purposes, iron piping with its keys and faucets, crucibles for melting metals, iron water tanks, and lightning rods.

27. Roofs of galvanized iron, gutters, ridging, clamps, and screws for the same. 28. Printing materials.

29. Books, pamphlets, and other printed matter, and ruled paper for printed music, printing paper in sheets not less than 29 by zo inches.

30. Geographical maps or charts, and celestial and terrestrial spheres or globes. 31. Surgical and mathematical instruments.

32. Stones and fire-bricks for smelting furnaces.

33. Vessels and boats of all kinds, fitted together or in parts.

34. Gold and silver in bullion, bars, or coin.

It is understood that the packages or coverings in which the articles named in the foregoing schedule are imported shall be free of duty if they are usual and proper for the purpose.

And that the Government of Nicaragua has further stipulated that the laws and regulations, adopted to protect its revenue and prevent fraud in the declarations and proof that the articles named in the foregoing schedule are the product of the United States of America, shall impose no undue restrictions on the importer nor additional charges on the articles imported.

And whereas the Secretary of State has, by my direction, given assurance to the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Nicaragua at Washington that this action of the Government of Nicaragua in granting freedom of duties to the products of the United States of America on their importation into Nicaragua, is accepted as a due reciprocity for the action of Congress as set forth in section 3 of said act:

Now, therefore, be it known that I, Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States of America, have caused the above-stated modifications of the tariff laws of Nicaragua to be made public for the information of the citizens of the United States of America.

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 12th day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, and of the Independence of the United States of America the one hundred and sixteenth.

SIR: I have the honor to bring to your attention the fact that the Congress of the United States at its last session enacted a law, of which a copy is inclosed herewith, in which provision was made for the admission into the United States, free of all duty, of the following articles: All sugars not above No. 16 Dutch standard in color, molasses, coffee, tea, hides, and skins.

In section 3 of this law it is declared that these remissions of duty were made "with a view to secure reciprocal trade with countries producing" those articles; and it is provided that, whenever the President shall be satisfied that reciprocal favors are not granted to the products of the United States in the countries referred to, "he shall have the power and it shall be his duty" to impose upon the articles above enumerated, the products of the countries concerned, the rates of duty set forth in section 3.

The Government of the United States, being earnestly desirous of maintaining with the Republic of Nicaragua such trade relations as shall be reciprocally

equal and mutually advantageous, I am directed by the President to request you to bring the above-mentioned provisions of this act of Congress to the attention of your Government, and to express the hope that you may be empowered to enter with me upon the consideration of the subject, with a view to the adjustment of the commercial relations between the two Republics on a permanent basis of reciprocity, profitable alike to both.

Accept, sir, etc.,

JAMES G. BLAINE,

DECREE OF NICARAGUAN GOVERNMENT.

REPUBLIC OF NIcaragua,
Department of the Treasury.

Whereas the Government must watch that the privileges and favors granted under the reciprocity commercial arrangements entered into between this Republic and the United States, as to certain articles of merchandise imported from the latter, do not result in detriment to the public revenue, by being unduly extended to merchandise coming from other countries, which are not entitled to the same benefits, and imported, or intended to be imported, as if coming from the United States; it has, therefore, decreed the following:

ARTICLE 1. The importers of merchandise manufactured in the United States shall be bound, in order to enjoy the benefits provided for in the said commercial arrangement, to append to declarations to be filed by them before the custom authorities, a certificate from the proper official of the United States showing that the merchandise therein referred to has been manufactured in the United States, and this certificate shall have to be authenticated by the Consul of Nicaragua of the respective place in the United States.

ART. 2. The collectors of customs shall levy the proper duties on all merchandise, claimed to be entitled to free admission, whose origin is not proven by the authenticated certificate provided for in the preceding article.

ART. 3. The provisions of the present decree shall begin to be in force one month after date.