The Franco-American treaty of commerce. Reports and resolutions adopted in the United States and France

Introduction

The following pages contain the resolutions adopted, by various Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade, after important speeches delivered by Mr. Leon Chotteau in the principal centres of commerce of the United States during the two campaigns which he made with the view of concluding a Franco-American Treaty of Commerce. In the second part of the present volume, the reader will find the Reports sent to the Paris Committee by the principal Chambers of Commerce of France.

Mr. Chotteau visited America as delegate of a French committee formed in January, 1878, upon the initiative of Mr. E. Menier, member of the Chamber of Commerce of Paris and deputy of Seine-et-Marne.

Before detailing the acts of this committee and the two campaigns of its deliegate in America, we must briefly explain the present state of the commercial relations of France and the United States, and the plan adopted by the French committee for the purpose of ameliorating those relations by a reciprocal lowering of the custom-house tariffs of the two countries.

A comparison will aid the reader to make himself acquainted with the abnormal character of the actual relations of America and France.

In 1877, England, which only reckons thirty millions of inhabitants, purchased French produce for more than a thousand million of francs.

The same year, the United States with a population of more than forty-three millions purchased French products for only about 216 millions of francs.

Whence arises this immense diiference ? From this fact, that France and Grreat Britain are united by a liberal treaty of commerce which promotes exchanges between them, whilst the United States and France are connected by no convention of this kind, and that, in the absence of any treaty of commerce, they apply reciprocally to the products of both countries tariffs exorbitant and often even prohibitive.

I'his custom-house policy produces an injury to the commerce of the two countries which it is impossible to state precisely in figures, but to which we may be able to approximate by continuing the comparison instituted above.

Thus, thanks to the treaty of 1860, England in 1877 sold to France 576 millions of francs worth of produce.

Then in that same year, the United States imported into France only 257 millions worth of their produce. French high tariffs caused them to suffer a loss which amounted to more than 300 millions, if we consider only a group of 30 millions of their inhabitants, but which is singularly increased if we take into account the real amount of the population of the American Union, the enormous extent of its territory, and the incalculable importance of its natural riches.

This same custom-house policy causes to French commerce an annual detriment which we may reckon at 750 millions of francs, since it is natural to think that with a population of more than forty-three millions, the United States could make use of annually at least as much of French produce as England, if they enjoyed the same liberal tariffs.

The details of the articles throw a clear light upon the subject.

Do we wish to know for example what amount machines and articles issuing from American factories constitute in this sum of 257 millions of products of the United States imported into France in 1877 ?

For two millions of francs only.

All the other articles figure under the denomination of raw cottons and petroleums, things necessary for food, as fats, salt meats, cereals.

Seeing their industry so badly treated by the French custom-house, the United States are little inclined to modify their own tariffs in favour of France.

Consequently, in this same year 1877, French exports to the United States reached only the amount of 216 millions whilst the preceding year they were 250 millions of francs.

The diminution, as may be seen, is very considerable ; it is still more perceptible if we refer to the year 1856, when France sold to the United States for 304 millions of francs of her products.

What is the. cause of this increasing diminution of French exports to the United States ?

The high tariffs which America has considered it necessary to establish with reference to foreign produce after the war of secession. Mr. Menier pointed out this cause when he said in December, 1877, in a letter addressed to Mr. L^on Chotteau :

*' In 1816, as in 1865, the Americans committed a great commercial mistake ; they wished to make foreigners pay their debts by raising the custom-house duties. What is the result of it ? It is that foreign commerce has left them." *

The evil thus pointed out, the remedy was at once indicated ; it was necessary to try to. get from the United States government a lowering of these tariJOTs, and for that purpose to show France ready to welcome American products upon conditions less hard.

Then the law requiring that the general tariff should be applied to all nations which were not connected by special treaties with France, it was not possible to ameliorate the conditions imposed upon American products on their entrance into France, except by means of a treaty of commerce to be concluded between France and the United States. From this arose the necessity of propagating in the two countries the idea of a reciprocal treaty.

II

A committee, the composition of which will be found a little further on, was formed at the beginning of 1878 with the view to this indispensable propaganda. On the 3rd of February, it published an Appeal to the Americans which will be read a few pages lower down.

This Appeal indicated with precision from the commencement the object jaimed at ; there it is stated : —

" Setting aside absolute solutions, transitions too abrupt, we accept a practical means of lowering tariffs.

* See the pamphlet entitled La Trait^ de Commerce Franco-Am^ricain, by L^on Chotteau, with a preface by M. Menier. Paris, 1878.

" Besides, it is upon this ground where accord is easy that Mr. J. Sherman, your minister of finance, has recently placed himself. The sixth report of the commission nominated by Mr. Sherman for the purpose of modifying the, custom-house laws in America shows that the articles upon which duties are levied, amount to more than 2,500, of which 823 pay duties advalorem from 10 to 75 per cent., 541 specific duties, 144 are subjected to complex taxes, 1,000 although not enumerated are in every case charged with duties.

"These 2,500 articles do not give to your treasury the millions which fifteen or twenty articles subjected to moderate duties would furnish."

The Appeal invited, in concluding, the Americans to form on their part at Washington a national committee, which might be able to combine its action with that of the French committee, so as to assemble at Paris, during the Exhibition, delegates of the commerce and industry of the two nations in a grand Franco-American conference, which would thus have the qualification requisite to lay down the basis of a treaty of commerce.

III

This Appeal once drawn up, it was necessary to send to America a delegate charged to develop, before the chambers of commerce of the United States, the views of the French committee. This delegate was moreover indicated beforehand by aptitudes altogether special, by the extensive knowledge which he possesses of the commerce of the two countries, and by the personal relations which he had created in the difi'erent States of the Union during a long sojourn in America. A French publicist, M. L6on Chotteau, had, in fact, visited the United States in 1867, he had studied closely the institutions, the manners, and the immense resources of that country. He had become connected with a great number of politicians, of publicists, of merchants, and of American manufacturers. On his return from France he had published, in 1876, a history of the war of independence, a book as well known in France as in America where it arrived a propos, since the United States were then celebrating by a universal Exhibition the centenary of their liberation.* Mr. Chotteau, moreover, had been one of the first to point out through the medium of the press the advantages which would result from the conclusion of a Franco- American Treaty of Commerce, and he had published in the month of December, 1877, a pamphlet upon that subject.

The committee could not hesitate, it chose Mr. Chotteau, and furnished him with the means of going to America.

The Transatlantic Company associated itself, from the beginning, with our work in giving to the French delegate a free passage upon its magnificent steamers.

Mr. Chotteau embarked at Havre on the 2nd of March, 1878, upon the steamer La France. Arrived at New York the 14th, he commenced two days afterwards the campaign by a conference at the Free Trade Club of that town, visited in turn Boston, Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Cincinnati, Saint Louis, Chicago, and San Francisco ; spoke before all the Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade, and succeeded in interesting all these bodies in the work of the committee, and in inducing them to promise to send delegates to the conference which was to take place at Paris on the 7th of August. Having quitted New York the 12th of June, upon the Saint- Laurent, \\q learnt on arriving at Havre on the 24th, that the merchants of that town had arranged to offer to him a banquet, which took place on board the same steamer.

At a meeting of the committee, held the 2nd of July, at Paris, at the Hotel of the Syndical Chambers, he gave an account of his mission. It was then learnt that a committee had been formed at Washington. An address sent by this meeting to the French committee, in reply to the Appeal of the 3rd of February, was read. We extract from that document, dated Washington, Gth June, 1878, the following passage ; —

'* The diversity of the natural products and manufactures of the two countries is such that they cannot be rivals. Each produces in a very large measure what the other wants, and we cannot conceive that any political theory should forbid the closest commercial relations between nations thus situated.

'^ The United States is teeming with products which should

find a market in France, and if we sell to you, it is a natural and inevitable result that we shall buy from you.

"We are, therefore, prepared to cordially co-operate in directing the public sentiment of France. and the United States to the great advantages which must accrue equally to each country by such an adjustment of import duties through a conventional tariff, as will increase its trade and develop its resources.

" We quite agree with you that such a change can best be made effectual and mutually profitable in being initiated, after careful consideration, by practical men ; and your suggestion that we should combine our efforts to prepare the way for a Franco-American Congress is a wise one, which meets with our hearty approbation."

Thus M. Chotteau had obtained the desired result ; a committee had been formed at Washington ; that committee was on all points in accord with the French committee ; American delegates were going to assemble at Paris. This was a first success.

IV

The Franco- American Conference met the 7th, 9th and 11th of August, 1878. One hundred delegates took part in it, fifty American and fifty French. A commission of sixteen members was deputed to lay the basis of the treaty. We will cite among the American members, Messrs. Nathan Appleton, Felix Limet, Cornelius Roosevelt, James Hodges, and Emile Karst. The eight French members were Messrs. Foucher de Careil, Senator ; D. Wilson, M. Rouvier, Pascal Duprat, Deputies ; P. A. Delboy, Counsel General ; Armand Lalande, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Bordeaux ; L. Hielard, President of the General Syndicate of the Union of Commerce and Industry, and Auguste Desmoulins, publicist.

This commission discussed, modified and adopted a project which had been prepared by two of its members, Messrs. Felix Limet and A. Desmoulins. This document, submitted to the general conference, was approved by the same the 11th of August.

It had the form of a memoir addressed to the Congress of Washington, and to the French chambers by the members of the Franco- American Conference. It pointed out the inconveniences of the custom-house tariffs of France and the United States, indicated the causes of the diminution of commerce between the two countries, proved the necessity of a Franco- American Treaty, and established as we are about to see, the general lines of that treaty.

On one part, " the government of the French republic, if it is favourable to this project, engages itself to admit, during the continuance of the present treaty, the natural products and manufactured articles of the United States into France at the rates of duties of the conventional tariff, such as results from the treaties concluded between France, Great Britain, and other countries."

On the other part, " the President of the United States, if he favours this project, and with the view to completing it, will recommend to the Congress of Washington, the adoption of a project of law reducing in the following proportions the duties to be collected upon French products imported into America."

The project then proposed the reductions which, after a first examination, had appeared the most justifiable and acceptable, but it remained well understood that this basis had nothing definite, and that the American and French chambers of commerce would be invited to discuss all the points of detail.

The only aim of the conference in adopting this project, was to furnish to manufacturers and merchants of the two countries a rough draft or canvas upon which they could indicate all the reductions of tariff which might appear to them desirable and compatible with their interests.

In acting thus, the conference followed the example which had been afforded to it at the commencement of the movement by the French committee, which was not to pronounce itself for any economical system and sought only a reform of custom-house tariffs. Mr. Chotteau, in all his discourses,* took great care to make known that he was neither protectionist nor free trader, and that his only aim was the amelioration of the commercial relations of the two great republics.

Thanks to this attitude, the Franco-American conference met three days in a spirit of concord and reciprocal goodwill

* See the pamphlet entitled Mt Two Capaigns in thb United Stxtss, by h6on Chotteau ; New York, 30, Lafayette Place, which not one single thing interrupted. The preparatory work of the commissions which lasted nearly two weeks, had established a great cordiality between the delegates. This sentiment increased still more in the meetings which followed, and when the delegates of the two nations assembled at the Franco American meeting which took place at the " Cirque des Ohamps-Elysees," on the 1st of December, 1878, it gave to that solemnity the character of a veritable family fete.

That was in truth a real fete in which were heard in turn a speaker so essentially French as Mr. Edouard Laboulaye, and an American like Governor Fenton, ex-Senator at Washington, of the State of New York. There were seated side by side a large number of French senators, deputies, general and municipal counsellers, representatives of French commerce and industry, eminent publicists, members of the institute, General Noyes, minister plenipotentiary of the United States, Governor Fairchild, consul-general, Eobert Hitt, secretary of the legation, many delegates of the chambers of commerce of the United States, and the most distinguished members of the American colony. The parquet and the galleries were full of ladies, among whom were a great number of Americans rivalling in grace and elegance the most distinguished of our French ladies. The French committee had, moreover, exerted every effort in order that the fete might be worthy of such an attendance. The Republican Garde executed between the speeches the finest pieces of its repertory, pnd its eminent chief, Mr. Sellenick, had the good taste to cause the speech of Mr. Fenton to be preceded by the National Anthem, " Hail Columbia," rendered with an admirable unity which elicited the enthusiastic cheers of four thousand auditors and visible emotion among the Americans, touched by this delicate attention.

In fine, the president of the meeting, M. Foucher de Careil, did the honours of the gathering with a perfect courtesy, and indicated by a discourse full of humour and esprit, the true character of the fete.

Mr. Chotteau spoke last, and announced his near departure for America. He showed that his first mission had been attended by the happiest result, inasmuch as the conference of the 9 th of August had been attended by the same delegates whom he had been all the way to America to invite to that Congress, but he added in speaking of his new mission : —

" To-morrow it will be necessary that I should discuss with the Americans that I should endeavour to cause to penetrate into minds, somewhat rebellious, a ray of truth. T hope, however, to surmount obstacles and to return next year to give an account of my new mission."

V

A month afterwards, the 5th of January, 1879, the French delegate quitted Havre in spite of the bad state of his health and the rigours of the season. The passage was rough and dangerous. The prudence of Captain Delort, who commanded the Amenque alone saved the ship, which had to encounter a terrible tempest, and only arrived at New York on the 20th. Some personal friends of Mr. Chotteau, merchants, members of different Chambers of Commerce, and many American journalists, offered to our delegate a private dinner on board the Amerique.

Some days afterwards Mr. Chotteau proceeded to Washington, where he presented^ to the President, Mr. Hayes, and to the ministers the respects of the French committee. He delivered at Boston, on the 29th of January, a speech which bears testimony to a conscientious study, not only of the general question of tariffs, but of the economic situation of Massachusetts.

The great secret of the French delegate has been to discuss with each of the Chambers of Commerce, each of the centres of production, questions which most directly affected its interests.

This accounts for his success. Every speech so delivered by Leon Chotteau was followed by the vote of resolutions favourable to the object he had in view. The reader will find all those resolutions collected in the book that we offer to him. Such motions were voted by fourteen Chambers of Commerce or Boards of Trade, of which many as those of New Orleans and New York were composed of representatives of different branches of industry. It is to be remarked that all these meetings pronounced themselves favourable to a treaty. Its adversaries had made a great talk about the opposition to it offered by the Chamber of Commerce of San Francisco on the 13th of June, 1879, but we shall see that "better informed" by Mr. Chotteau, the committee, named by that Chamber to study the question, took into serious consideration the project of a treaty.

Independently of the Chambers of Commerce, some private individuals seconded the efforts of the French delegate. It was thus, that, Mr. Chotteau having, on the 9th of February, published an appeal to all the producers and merchants of the United States in favour of a treaty, a circular was addressed on the 1st of March by five leading men of New York to the Presidents of the Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade of the United States with the object of supporting the appeal of the French delegate. This is the said circular : —

"You know, gentlemen, that Canada and Germany are agitating the question of an augmentation of the duties levied upon American products. This action threatens to extend itself to other nations, and thus compromises in the highest degree our export commerce. Consequently, we take the liberty of remarking to you that it would be in the interest of our country to transmit, as soon as possible, your answer to the letter of Mr. Chotteau on the date of the 9 th of February relative to a treaty of commerce between France and the United States."

At the foot of this document we find the five following names; —

Cyrus W. Field ; Berger-Yanderbilt ; Jackson S.

SCHULTZ ; ElLIOTT C. CoWDIN ; JOHN W. GrARRETT.

The national committee formed in June, 1878, at Washington having dissolved in consequence of the elections which gave birth to the new chamber of representatives, it was of the highest importance that some men of authority should recommend to the American public the appeal of the French delegate.

Now there were not in all the Union, men more influential than those whose names have just been read; Some information will suffice to place in relief the authority which is attached to such names ?

Mr. Cyrus Field is the courageous and persevering promoter of the transatlantic telegraphs. It is he who, at the price of efforts really unheard of, succeeded, in the spring of 1857, in laying that first cable, which only worked for a few days, but which sufficed to prove the possibility of establishing direct lines of communication across the oceans. He has been the fortunate constructor of the elevated railroads of New York. It is he whom we find again at the head of the society which is formed with the intention of establishing a cable "between California and Japan.

This new line is the last link of the girdle of cables of the globe ; thus it pertained to the author of the first Atlantic cable to establish the last. It was equally natural that such a man should be favourable to the extension of commerce.

What useful purpose will the free circulation of thought subserve, if the circulation of the products of that same thought is to continue to submit to impediments which superannuated tarifi's impose ?

An old consular agent of France and decorated with the Legion of Honour for services rendered to that country, Mr. Francis Berger-Yanderbilt, is deputy at the Chamber of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. He has been, moreover, the consul general at New York of the Duchy, and resides alternately at New York and Paris. He created the National Bank of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. His marriage with one of the daughters of Commodore Vanderbilt attaches him to the interests of the United States.

Mr. Berger has given proof of an energy and a perseverance quite uncommon. Engaged during twenty-five years in business matters, economic questions are familiar to him.

Jackson S. Schultz, a very rich leather merchant, is one of the most notable members of the Chamber of Commerce of New York.

Elliott C. Cowdin is the President of the Executive Committee of this same Chamber. He occupies one of the highest positions in the great export commerce of the United States, where he has made an immense fortune.

John W. Garrett is the Director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway Company, one of the most important and prosperous lines of the Union.

Supported by such men, the appeal of Mr. L^on Chotteau was bound to be listened to.

The unanimous vote of the Chambers of Commerce and the Boards of Trade has shown that it has been.

These resolutions of the Chambers of Commerce and of the Boards of Trade undoubtedly exercised a great influence upon the dispositions of the Congress and of the various members of the Cabinet. We shall see further on in what terms the minister of foreign affairs answered, in May last, the Chamber of Commerce of Baltimore. We shall remark especially the tenour of the motion voted the 23rd April, 1879, by the chamber of representatives upon the motion of Hon. Fernando Wood.

This motion, which engages the American government to open negotiations with France in view of a Treaty of Commerce to be concluded between the two countries, was taken the loth of May, in the Senate, by Messrs. Cockrell and Eaton, under the form of a Joint Resolution which " authorises the President of the United States of America to open negotiations with the government of the French republic, with the view of concluding and establishing a treaty of reciprocity and commerce with that government, and if it is judged necessary, to name according to the advice and with the consent of the Senate three commissioners charged to conduct in the name of the United States, the preliminary negotiations of that treaty."

The remuneration of those negotiators, adds the resolution, shall be fixed by the secretary of State.

The President Hayes, the minister of finance, Mr. Sherman, and Mr. Evarts, the minister of foreign affairs, in different audiences granted to Mr. L^on Chotteau, showed themselves ready to give effect to these resolutions, and declared that they only waited for a signal from the French government to open negotiations.

The French delegate has then fully succeeded in his double mission in America, since he has obtained from influential private individuals, publicists, chambers of commerce, boards of trade, two chambers of Congress, and different members of the government, declarations, the most favourable to the treaty which he recommended to them.

He has obtained even another success. Hardly had he returned to France when he received from Philadelphia a letter announcing to him that the " Alumni Association of Haverford College had given its prize to the Essay which he had addressed to it upon the " most practical plan to follow in order to substitute justice for war in the settlement of international differences."

The prize awarded to this Essay was $250.

VI

Whilst its delegate conducted in America this campaign as active as fruitful in important results, the French committee did not remain inactive.

In order to place the Chambers of Commerce of France under obligation of pronouncing themselves upon the project of treaty, it named Mr. Hippolyte Cahuzac, reporter general, and charged him to establish some continuous relations with special reporters named in the different departments, in concert with the Chambers of Commerce and the consuls of the United States. The committee then formed a Commission of Studies composed of Messrs. L. Simonin, P. A. Delboy, and Brulatour. Upon the proposition of Mr. Delboy, this commission formulated a series of questions which was addressed to all the Chambers of Commerce by the care of Mr. Cahuzac, its president.

Supported by a man to whom his fortune, his long experience of business, and his recognised competence assure a great influence, the appeal of the Commission of Studies was attended to. The Chambers of Commerce occupied themselves with our series of questions.; special reporters were charged to answer them. In a few months the committee was in possessioQ of almost thirty Eeports, furnishing precise information and an indisputable authority upon the points which were submitted to them. The following are the questions : —

1. What is the present importance of the exchanges between France and the United States, with reference either to importation or exportation, in what concerns the articles of your branch of industry ?

2. What increase of business might be reasonably expected in your opinion to result from a Treaty of Commerce ?

3. What complaints arise, in your industry, from the present tariffs on entrance to the United States ?

4. What changes do you desire to see introduced either in the amount of the duty, or in the mode of collecting it on entrance to the United States ?

5. To what point would you admit the reduction of the French tariff for similar products of American industry which might be imported into France ?

State precisely the reason in support of your opinions.

All these Reports conclude in favour of the projected treaty. They are destined, moreover, to exercise an action so much more decisive upon the resolutions of the government as they emanate from men whose competence is incontestable.

In fact, the claims of the commerce of wines are presented by M. Balaresque, reporter of the Chamber of Commerce of Bordeaux, and formulated in the discourses of the president himself of that chamber, Mr. Armand Lalande. Macon has for reporter the president of the local chamber, Mr. J. B. Ferret ; la Marne has Mr. Paul Delius ; Cognac is represented by Mr. Edward Martell ; Angoul^me, by Mr. Chauveau, senior.

The industry of silk has for reporter, Mr. Payen, member of the Chamber of Commerce of Lyon, and Mr. F. Mas, secretary of 'the Association of Lyon fabrics ; Saint Etienne is represented by Mr. Thiollier ; Marseilles has also a reporter, who is Mr. Fournier, a great merchant of that town. It is thus with all our great industrial and commercial centres, which have for reporters men of the highest authority in matters of production. Let us, in conclusion, name the Chamber of Commerce of Paris, which charged its first commission with the care of answering our series of questions, and which has addressed to us a Report written by Mr. Gustave Roy, full of general views and of practical data upon the commerce of the two countries.

The French committee has been happy to see a body so influential as the Chamber of Commerce of Paris describe as follows the attitude which French producers ought to take with regard to American merchants.

" In our demands from the United States we ought to show moderation ; we ought to take into account the fears of their nascent industries and even to listen to the interested and exaggerated complaints of American manufacturers."

It was with such a favourable disposition that the majority of the delegates of the French Chambers of Commerce attended the Franco- American Conference of the 9th of August, 1878.