Mr. Runyon to Mr. Olney.

No. 368.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt to-day of the Department’s instruction No. 401, of the 30th ultimo, relating to the prohibition of the importation into Germany of American cattle and [Page 500] meat products, and to inclose herein a copy of a note I have to-day addressed to the Imperial foreign office in accordance therewith.

I have, etc.,

Theodore Runyon
.
[Inclosure in No. 368.]

Mr. Runyon to the Imperial Foreign Office.

F. O. No. 296.]

Referring to previous correspondence, in particular to his note of October 28, 1894 (F. O. No. 153), the undersigned, ambassador, etc., of the United States of America, acting under instructions from his Government, has the honor to again bring to the attention of the Imperial German Government the subject of the importation of American cattle and meat products, and to request that, in view of the good sanitary condition of American live stock, the prohibition of the importation into Germany of American beef cattle and fresh beef be discontinued.

The United States Secretary of Agriculture reports that there have been no cases of pleuro-pneumonia in the United States for several years, and the American cattle are now equally free from Texas fever; but even if it were admitted that cattle affected with Texas fever had been found among those exported from the United States, the American Government would still protest against the prohibition of the trade on that account, as the disease is not disseminated by affected cattle. Although from 100,000 to 400,000 head of cattle have been imported annually to Europe from the United States during the past fifteen years, there is no case on record of any disease having been disseminated among European cattle by animals from the United States.

American cattle are not, as a rule, shipped to be placed among breeding herds, where they will mix with native stock, but are generally shipped for immediate slaughter, and consequently they may, it is thought, be surrounded by all precautions necessary to prevent the spread of contagious diseases without a resort to prohibitive measures.

The undersigned again has the honor to bring to the attention of the Imperial foreign office the fact that his request, repeated in his note of December 17, 1894 (F. O. No. 171), for the removal of the interdict in regard to American fresh beef has not been favored with a reply.

Theodore Runyon
.